


Tutoring Sessions with Keith

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A Multiple Chapter Story, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bottom Keith (Voltron), Bottom Lance (Voltron), Fluff and Smut, M/M, Masturbation, Mild Angst, Nudity, Oral Sex, Rimming, Shameless Smut, klance, some serious stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:36:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Community College AU Time! Lance is failing classes all over the place and is told he needs a tutor. Of course he gets stuck with that grumpy, mullet-wearing emo guy, Keith. Tensions rise and fall as Keith attempts to tutor Lance while life stuff makes things difficult for the both of them. When they least expected it, their bickering and bristling turns into friendship and then something more. My first multi-chapter fic for the Klance ship. :) EDIT: This story is now complete! Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thanks for reading! I've been wanting to attempt a multi-chapter fic for the Klance ship after writing my fun one-off smut fics so here's the first chapter of a story that won't be too long but will progress at less of a fast pace as the previous three. There will be proper smut eventually, I promise, as that's half the fun of writing these things. Until then, enjoy! I appreciate any and all kudos and comments, thank you all very much for reading :)
> 
> EDIT: Wow, over 7000 hits since this story hit completion, thank you all so much, you're such great readers :)

Lance glared at anyone who even dared to look at him as he wandered the whitewashed halls of Voltron-Tech Community College. He hadn't wanted to come to this stupid school with its stupid roaring lion mascot and its indecisive color-theme-seriously, when would the school council decide which of the five colors they wanted would be the permanent one? perhaps they should just combine them all-and he really didn't want to go down to the Tutoring Center. Unfortunately for Lance, he'd been handed a couple of ultimatums that determined his life for the next few months at the least.

The first ultimatum, given by his family, was that he either went here to Voltron-Tech, where he could have his own apartment above his aunt's garage and be financially supported by them, living cushy and free, or he would have to go and get a job and work his butt off to support himself. His parents really wanted Lance to get a degree and he really didn't want to work, so the crappy community college was naturally the only choice for him. 

The other ultimatum he'd been given was much more recent and greatly affected the first one. Lance didn't like working much at all, in the physical or mental sense, and he'd fallen way, way behind in his classes. Enough so that he'd been told by the Provost's Office that if he didn't meet with a tutor several times a week and bring his grades up, he'd be dropped as a student. "Stupid probation," Lance muttered, kicking a crumpled soda can upon the ground, "stupid tutors. Stupid college." He smacked his own forehead and groaned slightly. "Stupid, stupid Lance..."

He wandered into the Tutoring Center at last and immediately perked up. Behind the desk and slim black computer monitor sat an incredibly beautiful, busty, bright-eyed woman, her bushy hair a brilliant shade of white blonde, her smiling face radiant and regal. She was far too gorgeous to be working at this dump of a college and Lance decided he needed to sweep her off her feet and give her a break from the bleak existence she was living.

"Why, hello there," Lance said, leaning against the desk and putting on his best smile, trying his hardest to look friendly and less of a leering lecher. He knew he could come across that way to some people-lots of girls, the occasional guy, they'd all said Lance needed to tone himself down on occasion. Lance just couldn't help himself, he found lots of people to be really hot and in need of his attention. "What's a gorgeous young woman like you doing in a dump like this? Want me to help you make a break for it?"

"I work here," the white-haired woman said with a frown, "or at least I try to, when I'm not being rudely interrupted." Her voice was rich and lovely, music to Lance's ears. "And what's a wiry little pipsqueak of an asshole like you doing here?"

Lance fake-gasped and cringed slightly. Ok, he'd come on too strong again. He tried again and immediately regretted what came out of his mouth. "You wound me, fair princess! I admit, I'm sorry, I only meant to give you a greeting that did right by your severe hotness." He batted his lashes at her and leaned forward again, hoping his charm would make up for his previous faux pas. Allura gave him a good hard glare and he immediately backed off.

"You think I don't already get that from a million stupid horny college boys and the occasional girl every day?" the woman sighed with a deep weariness. "I'm sick to death of flirting and I'm sick to death of you. I'm Allura, I run the tutoring center in the afternoons, and I have a copy of the school's sexual harassment policy here if you care to read it."

Lance paled. "Oh god, I'm s-sorry, Miss Allura, I never meant...I, uh, look I'm sorry, i was just trying to be funny and charming-"

"I'm sure you were. But I am an employee of the school and you are a student and you are expected to act with respect towards others, student and staff member alike, including those who you find "hot". She made air quotes at the last word. "And that means not coming on so strongly to someone just because you fancy yourselves a modern-day Casanova. Now, I'm not truly angry, trust me, you wouldn't want to see me truly angry, it was just another tiring mistake from another tiring young man with delusions of trying to whisk me away from a supposedly crummy establishment, thinking I'd be eternally grateful for being "rescued." Allura snorted and blew away a strand of hair falling into her pretty brown face, which looked a little less pissed off now and a good deal more business-like. Lance was still worried she might kill him, though, he really shouldn't have been so forthcoming. "I've worked at a fair few such colleges and Voltron-Tech is actually one of the best, thank you. Though it would be nice if they came to a decision as to what color the Lion mascot should be. They've repainted that lion's head on the wall out there five times the past month, you know." Allura sighed and rubbed at her temples. "Now, I take it you're here for more than misplaced flirting and being a general pain in my side?"

"Um, yes. Again, Miss Allura, I'm so sorry-"

"Enough. Just understand that you've had a warning, learn from your mistake and try not to act like that again, all right? If I so much as catch you acting that way towards someone who doesn't like it, though, I will have you kicked out of this school."

"Y-yes." Lance gulped. Now he'd definitely have to rethink his flirting strategy. He'd never meant to be a bother. "I'm, um, here for a, uh tutoring session. My name's Lance. Nice to meet you."

"Hmm. Well, Lance," Allura said as she typed away, looking at the monitor and occasionally giving Lance a little side-eye, riveting him to the spot, "seems you have been asked to report here at least three times a week until the end of the semester. Judging by your schedule, this is the best time for you to come down here, correct?"

"Yes," Lance sighed, rolling his eyes. He really didn't want to be here, especially now that he'd been such a fuck-up. "I need help with English and Math most of all. And that stupid Art History class I took as an elective. Got anyone who can cover all three?"

"Well, this time of day we really only have one tutor who can help on a consistent basis, though he would be good to help you with all of them, I think. He could use it, too, we pay our tutors a bit and I think he's a bit down on his luck right now. You'll be needing help all throughout the semester, it seems, so that'll be good steady pay for him." She tapped at the keyboard again for a few seconds then looked up. "All right, then. You'll be paired with a student named Keith. He's in the back of the center, actually, just waiting for someone to drop on in."

Lance looked to the back of the center and groaned when he saw who was sitting at the tables behind the rows of computers. It was that Keith, of all people, a guy Lance couldn't stand in high school and had no idea was attending the same community college as him. They'd worked on a few projects before-well, Keith had done most of the work, Lance had goofed off and played games on his 3DS-and Lance had rarely been as miserable as he had been when working with the dark-haired emo boy.

"Oh, great, it has to be that Keith of all people..."

Allura perked up. "Well, I take it you don't like him much? Good. I'll consider ourselves even for your earlier behavior, then. Let's try to get off on the right foot next time, shall we?"

"Um, yeah, sure, Miss Allura." Lance coughed awkwardly, hefted his bag over his green jacket-clad shoulder, and made his way to the back of the room. Keith, who's eyes were hidden behind his bushy black bangs as he read a really thick textbook, looked up and startled a bit as he saw Lance looming over his table.

"Oh. it's you. Lance, right? I didn't know you went here." Keith sighed and stroked his pointy chin. "Let me guess. In trouble with your classes again? Still?"

"Yeah," Lance grunted, setting his bag down and slumping into another chair. "We get to be study buddies for the next two months. Isn't that just fucking fantastic!"

Keith shrugged. "I don't know, man. It'll be good for me, at least, I kind of need the money they give tutors and between my classes and my weekend job, I rarely get to see or do anything with anyone I know these days. Might not be all that bad." Keith's eyes narrowed. "As long as you actually take my advice and do your work."

"Hmmph." Lance rolled his eyes and folded his skinny arms against his chest. "I'll do my work. If anything, it'll get you off my back."

"Good. I want you to actually learn something for once and not just have this be me riding your ass all the time over your laziness." Keith sat back and smiled slightly, stretching his arms behind his back, that stupid short red coat of his and charcoal gray t-shirt sliding up a bit to reveal a sliver of bare skin. Mullet-boy had some pretty nice abs, Lance noted. "So," Keith continued, "what are you doing poorly in at this school?"

"English, mostly. I could use some help in Math, too. And there's this stupid Modern Art History class I took as an elective, figured it would be a cakewalk just looking at pretty pictures and shit but noooo." Lance threw his hands up in the air. "There are so many different fucking periods and artists and styles I can't keep up! I can't tell any of them apart, for one thing."

"Hmm. Think of it this way, a bit of a shorthand to help remember some of the differences in style and period: Art Nouveau is Tiffany lamps, Art Deco is the Chrysler Building, Dadaism is the old-timey equivalent of shit-posting and really weird memes."

Lance paused. "Huh. That helps a bit, actually."

"Good. We'll work on that more later. Now, if you're doing poorly in English, do you have any work to show me so I can see where you're going wrong? Or have you slacked off entirely like usual."

"Pfft. Fuck you, Keith." Lance grumbled as he rummaged around his backpack and pulled out a crinkled folder that was a lot thinner than it probably should have been. "Here you go, Mullet-Boy!"

"It's not a mullet," Keith said, his quiet voice defensive and bristling. He opened the folder, skimmed the contents of Lance's essays-which were heavily covered in red pen and tired teacher commentary-and pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing at what he saw. "Wow, these are quite the shitty essays, Lance. Barely any quality or decent research or structure to your work at all. How the hell did you get through high school?"

Lance made finger-guns and a clicking noise, giving Keith the old charming smile. "With style and flair, baby!"

Keith frowned. "Don't do that again, Lance. You're embarrassing the both of us."

Lance looked around. The tutoring center was empty except for the two of them and Allura, who was busy typing away, ignoring the stupid college boys. "If you say so...Anyway, yeah, high school. I, uh, kind of got through with C's and D's most of the time, though there was that incredible B- I managed to score on a test once, don't ask me how I managed that..."

Keith leaned his face forward and smacked it softly into the table several times. He sat up, rubbed his forehead, and gave Lance a good long look. "You're going to be quite the project to work on, aren't you?"

"I'm a project? No way, man, the classwork's the project. I'm just here to get through these classes so I can get that degree and do something that'll get my parents to leave me alone. I don't want to be a super-genius like you, I just want to get by. You okay with that?"

Keith shrugged. "I can't help but put a full amount of effort into anything I work on but if you just want to coast by, Lance, fine by me." Keith sighed and waved the failing essays about. "We're going to work on structure, for one thing. Your essays should be written in a simple five-paragraph structure for basics, though for longer papers you might want to think of it as a five-act format, kind of like a play. Intro and thesis, three supporting points of your thesis and a conclusion/summation that sells the point you were trying to make. If the paper's an argument or a persuasive paper, which most papers are to a certain extent, then a counterpoint to your perspective on the argument would be good to have as well so you've got an actual argument and not just a one-sided rant. It'll add validity to your thesis statement, too, especially if you acknowledge any pros of the other side's POV so you don't come across as too pushy on your side. Difficult if the argument you're selling is something political or scientific but manageable if you do enough research and consideration. Now, the counterpoint shouldn't be just shoved in to the paper any old way, there should be a decent segue, perhaps in the paragraph after the intro-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Lance said, holding up his hands for emphasis. "Hold the phone, Keith. You are going way too fast and I'm not just going to absorb all this writing structure bullshit just like that!"

Keith blinked, slightly bewildered at being interrupted. "Sorry. I guess it would help if you had an actual assignment so I could show you what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess. There is a paper due in two weeks that I haven't even begun to work on." Lance scowled. "I've got the papers for that at my place, though. Guess I could bring them around in two days."

"Why wait?" said Keith. "You've got that paper due pretty soon and we could use all the time we have to get it done as best as possible if you want a good grade. I'm not doing anything later today, so I could always come around. I have classes in a little while and won't be done until around 7. So-8 o'clock at your place, then?"

Lance sighed. The last thing he wanted was for Keith to come over and bring school home while he wanted to veg about, blowing shit up in Team Fortress 2 or something. After a second's thought, Lance grunted his assent. He did need his grades to pick up. "Yeah, sure, 8 o'clock. I live at my aunt's now as she's closer to the college, so I need to give you the address." He pulled out his phone and texted Keith, something he hadn't had to do since that one project over a year ago. Keith's phone buzzed in his pocket and the dark-haired boy pulled it out with a frown.

"I'm sitting right here, Lance. You could've just written it down and handed the paper over."

"Nah. I prefer it that way." Lance got up and grabbed his bag. "My apartment's over the garage, door's around the back. It's not a bad place, actually, has a bathroom and tiny kitchen and everything and my aunt's always away on business trips so she's rarely ever there to bother me. You want me to have any food waiting?"

Keith's stomach growled in response. Despite looking in pretty good shape, Keith did look and sound as if he went a bit longer between meals than he should have. "Yeah, sure, thanks. Pizza's good or chips or whatever."

"All right, then. See you later."

Later that evening, Lance grumbled as he looked up at the clock hanging on the wall by his mini-fridge. 8pm, Keith would be there soon, he always tried his best to be punctual. Lance sighed, logged out of his game and got up to look out the window. Sure enough, a beat-up old car pulled into the driveway, rumbling and rattling as it settled down to park. The door slammed open and Lance heard what he thought was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" blaring at an absurdly loud level. The music died as the car turned off, Keith slid out and ran up the steps to Lance's apartment, rubbing his hands together to keep warm in the mid-autumn chill even though he already wore those stupid fingerless gloves. Lance held the door open and Keith mumbled his thanks as he stepped into the warm little apartment.

"If you don't like the cold, you should probably wear a bigger, warmer coat," Lance said with a chuckle. Keith scowled as he tossed his bag down.

"I like this coat. I look good in it, too. I'll change when it gets colder. Now, um, you don't happen to have any of that food you mentioned earlier, do you? I'm starving."

"Yeah, sure." Lance pulled out a box of cold meat lover's pizza from the fridge. "I saved you a few slices. Hope you like sausage."

"I love sausage," Keith mumbled as he grabbed a slice and devoured the whole thing practically in one gulp. Lance raised an eyebrow. Damn, Keith's mouth could open wide and he looked stupidly good while eating. Lance shook his head. What was wrong with him? He wandered over to his laptop, dragged it back to the couch, and booted it up, ignoring the passing thought of Keith's hotness.

"Anyway, got the assignment over here and a few websites up. You tell me what you think I should do and I'll do it."

Keith leaned over the couch and over Lance's shoulder, his warm breath practically falling on Lance's exposed neck as he ate his pizza. He was awfully close and Lance squirmed a bit at the proximity, pulling the neck of his blue-collared gray shirt up a bit along his neck. "Hmm. You've actually started some research and found a couple of decent source sites, I'm impressed," Keith mumbled between bites. "Perhaps you're not so hopeless after all."

"And perhaps you're a pain in my ass," Lance grumbled. "All right, if we're going to do this, let's get going..."

They spent the next several hours researching, writing and arguing. Some time around midnight, Keith began to yawn and Lance pushed away the laptop. "That's it. I'm done with this shit for the night."

"Hmm, yeah, you've got a good start. So. What now?"

Lance scratched at his chin. "You know, I'm not that sleepy yet but I'm not up for gaming, either. Care for a movie?"

Keith blinked. "Really? Inviting me over to watch a movie? I thought you didn't want much to do with me outside of the tutoring."

Lance shrugged and reached for his stack of Blu-Rays. "Ehh. I'm bored, a movie seems like a good cure and movies are more fun with another person. I'll make some popcorn. You in?"

Keith nodded. "Yeah, sure, anything to stay out of the cold right now. Movie and popcorn sounds grand."

They spent the next couple hours watching some stupid comedies, cracking up and groaning, throwing popcorn at the screen whenever there was a particularly stupid sequence. As the night passed and they both grew tired, Lance found himself slumping slightly towards Keith as he sat on the other end of the couch. Lance righted himself several times but eventually succumbed to his own sleepiness and the warmth emanating from where Keith sat.

"Lance? Lance?!" Lance felt Keith's hands shake at him gently yet firmly for several minutes but to no avail. He was deep into sleep, now, and feeling incredibly warm and good.

Sometime later, when a clock somewhere in the apartment buzzed a morning hour, Lance woke up, slightly groggy, and realized his head had fallen into Keith's lap, drool slightly covering the side of his face. Something hard was poking Lance's face from beneath Keith's black skinny jean-clad lap and Lance let out a little squeak as he sat straight up, blushing at the fact that Keith's morning boner had been pleased to be pressing itself so close to Lance. Keith was snoring as he sprawled across his side of the couch, his arm and hands draped in such a way as to suggest he'd wrapped himself slightly around Lance, almost like they were cuddling.

"Keith? Keith!" Lance shouted, startling his tutor awake. Keith's wide eyes boggled and looked around the room, licking his lips and running a hand through his messy hair.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Keith scrabbled off the couch and scratched at his back and belly, flashes of pale flesh showing as he moved his shirt about. "Oh god, Lance, I'm so sorry, you fell asleep and I couldn't move you and it was just so warm and comfy here so I fell asleep too-"

"It's all right, Keith," Lance sighed. He looked at the clock and swore. "Damn, I've got class soon. What about you?"

"Yeah, sooner than yours. I checked your schedule earlier to see when I'd be available to help." He pointed at the bathroom. "Um, mind if I use your shower quick? There isn't time for me to go back to my place and take one and, um, well, the heat's off at my place right now..."

Lance arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Uh, yeah, sure, go right ahead. Change in there, though, please."

"Sure. Whatever." Keith dashed into the tiny bathroom and slammed the door behind him. Lance soon heard the showerhead sputtering out water and shook his head. What was he going to do with this stupid tutor of his? At least they weren't hating on each other as badly as they had been in the past.

Lance got up, fixed himself a bowl of cereal, and put on the morning news while he awaited his turn in his own bathroom, feeling almost like he was back at home where waiting for his family to get done their morning rituals had lasted for several eternities. The door cracked open after a few minutes and Lance looked up, happy to have his turn at last. He felt himself blush as soon as he looked, though.

Keith had stepped halfway out of the bathroom door, completely wet and naked and surprisingly hot as hell, his dark, bushy hair dripping into his face. He held a tiny white washcloth over his crotch with one hand and gestured at the bathroom behind him with the other, billowing clouds of steam whispering past his bare skin. "Um, Lance, you don't have any towels in here and I kind of need to dry off..."

Lance nearly choked as he tried to spit out his voice. "Um, yeah, sorry, forgot about that. Let me go grab them." Lance ran over to the other side of the tiny apartment, cursing himself for the surprise boner he felt pushing against the fabric of his boxer-briefs and his jeans, and grabbed several thick, fluffy red-and-blue striped towels. "Here you go!" he said, looking away as he shoved them at his naked, dripping wet tutor.

"Thanks," mumbled Keith, his voice also a bit choking. "Be right out." A few minutes later, Keith was true to his word, his hair still a bit slick with moisture but otherwise dry and dressed in his clothes from the previous day. "Um, well, guess I'll see you later, Lance? Unless you want me over to help with your paper some more later. I don't get paid for sessions outside of school but I really didn't mind staying over last night. You've got heat and running water, for one thing..."

Lance didn't know what to say. He knew Keith had always been kind of on the poor side but he didn't know just how bad his situation was and he didn't really want to pry too much into his personal situation. It seemed, though, like his tutor could use all the help he could get. The older, immature (well, he was still immature but slightly less so) Lance would have told Keith to fuck off and just be there at school when he needed the help. Considering how bad Keith's life seemed to be going of late, though, Lance decided he couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Keith's plight.

"Uh, yeah, sure. We could watch another movie or play some games or something after we're done working, I guess," Lance said, shrugging, trying his hardest to dispel the image of wet, naked Keith from his mind. "Come right on over."

Keith's face cracked into a wide, warm grin, a mask of happiness that made Lance smile, too. "Thanks, man. See you later, Lance!" Keith dashed out the door and a moment later, his wreck of a car rumbled into life and drove off.

Lance whistled as he stripped off and got into his shower, glad that the hot water was still running on yet another chilly autumn morning. As he stepped in, water running through his dark brown hair and across his light brown skin, he thought about the fact that Keith had been in here a few minutes before, all soapy and sexy. Lance shook his head. Why was he thinking of Keith this way of all people? He liked guys well enough, almost as much as women, had even had a date and a one-night stand with one once, but he hadn't thought Keith would ever fall into the category of guys that he not only liked, but was suddenly mad horny for as well.

The image of naked Keith wouldn't go away and Lance felt another boner coming on. Figuring he was in the perfect place for it, Lance began to stroke at his cock, running his hands up and down the shaft and up and down his chest, closing his eyes, letting the warm water roll over him as he recalled that brief flash of pale, naked skin beneath the blushing face and dark, bushy mullet that he'd seen for just a minute that morning. Lance groaned as he felt himself come all over his hand, the water washing away the semen down the drain as he moaned and finished himself off. He huffed and heaved as he leaned against the shower wall, warm tingling that wasn't caused by the water flooding his whole body with vibrant aftershocks.

Well, this was definitely going to make tutoring sessions interesting in the future...


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, dear readers! Here is Chapter 2 of this story! Thanks to everyone for the hits, kudos and kind comments, they are greatly appreciated! Hope I can keep doing this story and these characters justice and that everyone's still enjoying it! Onwards with the misadventures of this particular Klance AU!

The next few days of Lance's life saw a huge increase in studying, writing, researching, swearing and staying up way too late, even for him. Those few days also saw an increase in Keith being a part of Lance's daily routine, something he would have never believed to have been a good thing before this. Not just because he had suddenly realized that, mullet-esque hairdo aside, Keith was a lot hotter than he'd previously noticed, but because Keith was fast becoming a friend in a community college where Lance barely knew anyone and found little to connect him to the rest of the student populace.

Oh, there had been the clubs and the extracurricular activities for socializing, but Lance had bailed on the first meeting of several clubs-the gaming club, the anime and manga club, the college's intra-community college league basketball team-after being suitably unimpressed with the people in each and every one. He regretted not joining the basketball team right after seeing their first game-they actually weren't too bad, once he saw them properly play-but by then, it was too late to join up. There had been a surfing club, and Lance had always wanted to try surfing, being an avid beach-goer when he was younger and lived elsewhere, but they had disbanded by the second week due to a lack of interest. Lance's friends from high school were either off at other colleges or busy working all the time, leaving him in a state of abject loneliness he had rarely felt before. Dates had come and gone that first month of the semester and he'd thought he'd found something with a girl that then lasted only two weeks, so he was very lonely in the romance department as well as friends. There was always the Internet and his gaming buddies but for Lance, that kind of contact paled in comparison to actual physical human companionship. It just wasn't the same.

And now? Well, now he had Keith there to help him with homework, reminisce over hated high school teachers, keep him company while his aunt was constantly away at her busy office job in the city or flying out to yet another conference. Lance's life, which had started to become a real pile of shit since starting community college, had dramatically improved in the last week as Keith became a regular fixture both at school and at his above-the-garage apartment.

There'd been no more incidents of Lance falling asleep and plopping his head in Keith's lap while they quasi-cuddled, though. That should've been a good thing, given how awkward it was when they woke up that one time, but Lance found himself strangely wanting a bit more of that. Not that he'd admit it, of course, nor would he admit even to himself that he'd actually masturbated to the thought of wet, naked Keith standing in his bathroom door. No, sir. That had never, ever happened. Perhaps he should see a little less of Keith, regardless of what he really deeply felt.

The Monday morning the week after his tutoring began, however, Lance found himself desperately needing Keith for one very important reason.

"Keith! Oh thank god!" Lance cried into his phone. He was pacing back and forth in the driveway outside his house, stress-sweat dripping down his forehead as the autumn wind blew dead, dry leaves past his frantic face. "I tried texting you but you didn't respond so I had to call like a dozen times, almost gave up on you. Why did you take so long to pick up?!?"

"Because it's only 9:00 am and I don't have class for three hours and tutoring until afterwards," Keith grumbled groggily into his phone. "Mondays are my light day for classes. I was sleeping in cause of how late we stayed up playing Portal last night. What do you need, Lance? Forgot an assignment was due today or something?"

"No, no, nothing major's due till the end of the week." Lance frowned. "Well, actually, there is that art history thing due on Wednesday but we've got a good start on that, right?"

"Yes, your presentation on Surrealism's not that bad, even if you're not over the whole "This Is Not a Pipe" thing from "The Treachery of Images". And you've got to stop snickering at the bits on Salvador Dali."

Lance grinned and chuckled despite himself. "Who names a piece of art "The Great Masturbator?" And then puts ants and grasshoppers all over it? The dude had some seriously strange sexual hang-ups." Lance paused-who was he to make such a comment? He couldn't get over the fact that he had a crush on his tutor who he kind of hated but was kind of growing to like at the same time, a conflict that gnawed away at the back of his brain in the wee hours of the night. He shook his head, shaggy brown bangs falling into his eyes, and continued. "Dali should have just stuck to the melting clocks, man, those were awesome."

"Yes, yes, I know, you only told me about a dozen times." Keith yawned on the other end. "So, if you don't have any suddenly due homework, why the call? Miss the sound of my voice or something?"

"Ha! You wish!" Actually, Keith's voice was rather nice to hear but Lance ignored that thought. "Um, I'm calling 'cause I missed my bus and the next one will get me to school late and if I miss another class that bastard Professor Coran will probably kick me out. Any way you can give me a ride and be here in ten minutes?"

Keith groaned, sighed and said, "Sure. No problem, Lance, I guess. I am just a tutor, though, you know, not a chauffeur. I don't get paid for this kind of service..."

"Oh, what? Our entire relationship is just a tutor-pupil thing? You can't give a lift to a friend?"

Keith paused on the other end. "So...we're friends now?" His voice had a slight hopeful tone to it, as if he was just as lonely as Lance had been of late. Perhaps he was; Lance had no idea.

Lance gulped as he realized what he'd said. He hadn't meant to blurt that out. He tried to backtrack and found himself babbling instead. "Well, you've been over to my place for almost every night this past week, eaten my food, played my games. Hell, you've used my shower." The memory of nearly naked Keith popped up again and Lance immediately suppressed it. God, he was so easily distracted, especially by sexy people. He really needed to get laid some time soon. "I'd say that makes you my friend in my book."

"Huh. Well, thanks. Glad to hear it. Didn't think I'd ever hear you say that. Guess you have changed a bit since high school, Lance."

"Yeah, well, you definitely have." Keith used to be much less hot and much broodier and sullen, and much, much more of a hard-ass when it came to schoolwork, too, Lance recalled. The past week, though, he'd been actually helpful and patient with Lance's school stuff and lack of focus and also incredibly fun to hang around with, laughing and joking and fooling around despite being in what Lance could tell was not a good situation, given all his comments about lacking heat and food and needing money. "Listen, Keith, if you're worried about gas money or anything, I can pay for that. I just need you here. Now. Or as close to now as you can get."

"All right, then, thanks, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll be there as soon as I can, Lance. See you!" The phone clicked off and Lance sighed with relief. In a pinch, it seemed he could count on good old Mullet-Boy to help him out. He just hoped he could return the favor. Lance knew he could come across as a bit of a jerk towards others-hell, he still bristled in memory of how much of a White-Knight asshole he'd been towards Miss Allura last week-but he didn't like getting something for nothing. He'd repay Keith back, somehow, and not just with gas money.

A few minutes later, Keith's beat-up old gray-and-black car pulled on up the driveway and Lance leapt into the car with a whoop of triumph. If traffic was good, he'd make it to Coran's class five minutes before the moustachioed professor slammed the door shut and locked it. Most of Lance's professors were kind of laid back about the whole time thing-something he was grateful for, given his inability to be on time to anything-but old Coran was a stickler for punctuality. Lance was just glad that Coran's American History 101 class was a breeze so far and didn't have a major paper due yet. Hopefully Keith could help him out with that, too, when they got that far.

"Morning," Keith grunted, sipping at a cup of coffee, the steam wafting about in the surprisingly chilly car. He tapped at the radio. "Hope you don't mind the 80's and 90's station. It's the only thing the car radio can play and my phone's old and crappy, can't get Spotify to work or iTunes or anything."

"No problem, man." The radio switched over from Van Halen's "Panama" to some tune by Metallica that Lance recognized but couldn't recall the name. At least the station didn't seem to play the really bad 80's and 90's music yet, though Lance didn't voice that thought aloud in case he jinxed them both. He tossed his heavy backpack in the back seat, which landed on Keith's squashy duffel bag, and yanked a $20 out of his pocket. "Here's your gas money."

"Thanks." Keith reached over, grabbed at the $20, and their fingers touched briefly, perhaps for a second longer than they should have. Lance turned his face away as he pulled back his hand, not wanting Keith to see his face turn red, and pulled close his hooded green parka. "Damn it, Keith, it's cold in here. How can you stand it?"

"Don't have heating in my apartment, either, and it's actually warmer out here, believe it or not," Keith grumbled as the car choked back into life and took off at great speed to ensure Lance's timely arrival. "The heating in the car's shot and I don't have the money to get it fixed but it still works so I'm good until winter, at least. I'll get by, I guess. I do appreciate the past few nights staying over for some heat at your place, though, and the food. It's helped a lot."

"Don't mention it," Lance mumbled, still feeling awkward over Keith's seemingly sucky life. Lance didn't want to be rude, didn't want to pry, but at the same time, he couldn't shake the itching feeling that he should be doing more to help. Keith was going above and beyond to help him in his capacity as a tutor, after all. Instead, as they drove towards the school, Keith just drummed his fingers along the dashboard and the door, his eyes darting at all the houses and buildings and dying, dormant trees passing by.

"So," Keith said a moment later, fortunately breaking the awkward silence that Lance didn't know how to get past, "you take the bus to class normally, I take it? Don't have a car or don't know how to drive?"

Lance scowled. "Oh, I know how to drive. Well, I say I do. The three accidents that totaled both my car, my second car and then my parents' spare car say otherwise."

Keith laughed deeply as he turned the corner towards Voltron-Tech Community College. "Whoa, Lance, you trashed three separate cars?! Fuck, maybe you really don't know how to drive."

"Shut up, Keith! What do you know? You ran a red light back there and everything, who are you to call me out for that, huh?!"

"I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry." Keith tried hard to stop his chuckling and wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye. "I'm just, well, wow, I don't know what to say. That really sucks."

"Hmmph. I still have my license and all but my parents won't help me out to get a new car until after the year's up as punishment for not paying enough attention." He sighed and leaned back to grab his bag as they pulled into the college's parking lot, where dozens of other students and their cars dashed about in a desperate search for prime parking space. "What about you, man? Your parents help you get this old piece of junk or did you have to get it yourself?"

Keith went quiet, his face unusually solemn, much like his old high school self. "Kind of both, actually. it's-it's something I'd rather not talk about. Not right now."

Lance stared at Keith for a second, trying to get a read on his tutor, on his new friend. "Um, okay. Sure. You can tell me later if you want." The car pulled into a spot with a loud clunking noise emanating from the engine and Keith smacked his forehead against the steering wheel, clearly still in need of a bit more sleep. "Listen, thanks again, man," Lance said with a smile, placing his hand on Keith's shoulder and shaking it. "I'll see you later today, right?"

Keith looked up from the steering wheel, his dark eyes red-rimmed and watery from sleeplessness but otherwise pleased. His face broke into that smile that Lance had grown rather fond of seeing the past week. "Yeah, later. Got to give that paper of yours another polish, especially your citations. MLA, remember, not APA?"

"God, why can't they all use the same fucking system?" Lance groused as he got out of the car, hefted his backpack, waved good-bye and dashed off into the east wing of the college's central building, what nearly all of the professors and nearly none of the students referred to as the Castle, a different colored lion face hanging over every set of doors. There was a basketball game later that week, Lance recalled, and presumably the student council would've decided on which of the five colors-red, blue, black, green and yellow-they wanted for the mascot by then. Lance expected either all or none, the council could never make up its mind.

The rest of the day slid by as slowly as any Monday at school Lance had ever encountered. He'd made it to Coran's class with a minute to spare, causing the red-haired professor to make a grunt of approval, and got through yet another set of notes with little problem, glad that he remembered his syllabus for once and that the quiz he was dreading wasn't until later in the week. He wolfed down a huge amount of fried chicken and garlic knots for lunch, goofed off on the library's Internet for a while, then sat through the Math class that he and Keith had only touched upon a bit so far, seeing as Keith's expertise was far more in English and History. The math professor was a young, tall, muscular man with a prettily handsome squarish face, dark hair in an undercut style with a strange streak of white at the front, and a smile that made everyone in the class ignore the math he was teaching. Lance was definitely fond of Professor Shiro, more than fond, damn his horny mind and body, and only wished he could understand the man's babbling about logarithms and functions so he could get in the professor's good graces. Lance got handed back a graded quiz from the week before-a 67, Lance noted, which was at least passing-and slumped out of the class, not wanting to see the disappointed dad face that Professor Shiro gave him so often. Shiro always believed that he could coax more out of his students than they were giving him and Lance suddenly found himself wanting to actually live up to the professor's expectations. Perhaps he and Keith could get to work on the math stuff sooner rather than later.

The afternoon classes came and went and Lance found himself with a little time before he and Keith would return to their studies, so he headed into the best place at the dump of a college (other than the cafeteria)-the gymnasium. Lance changed into a white tank top and blue shorts and spent a good half-hour going back and forth with a couple other guys, tossing a ball about, working up a sweat and just generally having fun. No worries about class, no worries about his future, just him and the basketball. Lance felt good all over, even as his back and legs occasionally cramped. He needed to get out more, he'd gotten lazy over the past few months.

"Hey! Lance!" Lance looked up and saw that Keith was likewise in the gym, one of several people that were running around on the indoor track ring next to the basketball court. Lance's eyes nearly bugged out and he tried hard not to laugh-or to look too long, for that matter. He knew Keith had a whole 80's aesthetic going on-and not in the annoyingly ironic hipster way-but Lance thought the tiny red running shorts and ragged gray crop-top t-shirt he wore were perhaps taking things a bit far. Mind you, they did show off Keith's ass and abs in a really nice light. Lance remembered where he was and how easily his own baggy gym shorts could turn into a tent if he thought too long and hard about people he found sexy and told his brain and dick to cut it out.

"Oh. Um, hi, Keith. Fancy you being here." Lance rubbed at the back of his neck and smiled as best as he could. His arm being up a bit meant he caught a whiff of his smelly, sweaty armpit and he nearly choked. He'd need a quick shower in a sec before they got to work for the afternoon. "Wow, nice look you got going there. Guess you track folk are going for a whole retro-tastic thing, huh?"

Keith frowned as he fiddled with his long, dark hair, which he'd pulled back into a bit of a short ponytail. At least he hadn't gone for the dreaded man-bun. "No, I just haven't been able to do laundry for a bit so all I've got are my old running clothes, which are a bit on the shorter side, I'll admit. I still rock the look well, though, you know?"

"Uh, yeah..." Lance wanted to back off a bit, worried both that the other guys playing ball would mock Keith or mock Lance for being seen with the emo nerd and then start making crass comments about the two being gay lovebirds or some homophobic bullshit he really didn't want to deal with. Lance didn't really care what other people thought about who he was attracted to, girls or guys or whoever, but he still hadn't come out as bisexual to any of the other guys playing in the gym here. He didn't know them well enough but if they were like other dudebro jocks like he'd known since he was a kid, they wouldn't stop ragging on him if they'd ever found out. "Anyway," Lance managed at last, "I take it you come here often, do you?"

"Oh yeah. I always try to get a good run in before I go to the tutoring center. Helps keep me up for the long haul for the rest of the day, you know? Gets my system going. Not to mention I don't really have any other time the rest of the day. it's either class, homework, tutoring, sleeping or working a shift at the bookstore whenever they have something other than the weekends. Need to work in a good run some time. You on the college's basketball team or something?"

"Pfft, no. I mean, I thought about it, but decided they weren't for me." An awkward pause happened again for several seconds after Lance finished speaking. If they'd been back at his place or at the tutoring center or the library, Lance wouldn't have hesitated to keep chatting. Here in front of these other people, though, his worries about how he'd felt kept bubbling to the surface. "Uh, listen, we have to get going soon, right? I smell like ass after all that bouncing about so I'm going to go get a quick shower in, if you don't mind me breaking this up."

"Hmm. Sounds like a good idea. My calves and butt are getting sore anyway." Keith lifted up a leg and stretched it out for a second, a sight that Lance's eyes lingered on for perhaps too long. Keith had really great legs. No, he needed to stop doing that. Hell, Keith needed to stop doing that. Lance swore that every time they were near one another, his tutor pulled off something sexy-looking unintentionally. Or was it intentional teasing? Lance had no idea if Keith was feeling any of the same conflicted urges about him but if he was, the nerd was doing a good job of hiding it. Lance didn't feel quite ready yet to hint at how messed up his brains, gut and groin were reacting towards Keith's sudden strong presence in his life, especially when he was also enjoying the guy's company as a friend and tutor, so he didn't say a word whenever Keith acted up.

As Lance headed back to the locker rooms, he realized what Keith had said and saw that his tutor was following behind him at a quick pace, sweat sliding down his neck, arms, shapely legs and the flat, firm abs exposed by his crop-top. Lance felt the fabric of his gym shorts tighten and shut down his boner for what had to be the fourth time today. Or was it fifth? Lance had lost count. Oh god, how was he going to clean himself with Keith using the showers at the same time? He'd just have to act calm and casual, that was all.

Lance stripped off in the locker room, grabbed a towel, and went to the set of showers farthest away from the changing area. The hot water felt good even and cleansing and Lance whistled some tune that was stuck in his head as he scrubbed himself and steam filled the chamber. He realized after a moment that it was the nameless Metallica song from Keith's car that morning and frowned. God, he really had been isolated lately, hadn't he? His whole world seemed to revolved around Keith the past week.

Speaking of which...Lance looked up towards the steamy shower-stall next to his as he rubbed body-wash beneath his groin and saw a silhouette of someone walking in and likewise washing. After a minute, Lance was able to make out the familiarly pale, naked flesh of the other day-Keith, his jet black hair still pulled back in that short ponytail but otherwise in the same completely nude state as he was last week-hell, more so, as he didn't have the tiny washcloth for modesty this time. He was turned away from Lance, at least, but that was just as bad, as Lance now had a completely uncensored and glorious view of Keith's leanly muscular back and magnificent rounded ass, water sliding and trickling down the bare buttcheeks in a tantalizingly slow manner. Lance felt a small squeak leave his throat and his dick pop right up and he had to look away as Keith seemed to notice and turned his head around in Lance's direction.

"Lance? That you?" Keith said, his voice slightly muffled by the shower water.

"Uh, yeah," Lance mumbled back, quickly finishing off his washing and smacking his cock down, wishing it would behave. The touch only seemed to encourage it and he had to twist the shower knob to the OFF position and grab his towel before Keith saw anything. "Just finishing up. Going to go dry off, get changed and head to the tutoring center. You'll, you'll be there soon, right?"

"Yeah, soon." Keith's voice sounded similarly strained and startled as Lance's. Had Keith been checking Lance out before? Had he seen where he'd gone when he entered the locker room? There were over a dozen different showers he could have used, why had Keith gone for the one right next to Lance's, all the other way at the end of the locker room? No one else was using them yet, as far as Lance knew. God, was Keith getting into him, too? Lance had no idea what Keith's sexual orientation was, had never really paid attention to whether or not he'd dated anyone at all in high school. What if Lance was just imagining things? God, he couldn't wait until the semester was over and they were past this, then he could move on with his life.

As Lance toweled off and yanked his black boxer briefs and blue jeans back on, he realized that, actually, he didn't know if he'd be happy when the semester was over. The past few days had been really, really great and Lance really didn't want to return to the loneliness and apathy he'd been feeling at the beginning of the semester. He'd just have to either learn to move on from Keith or perhaps see if something more would actually develop. Whatever the case, he had homework to get to.

Somehow, despite being farther behind than Lance, Keith managed to make it to the Tutoring Center at almost the same time, dressed back in a similar gray-and-black t-shirt and skinny jeans ensemble to the clothes he wore the other day. The gym clothes and a threadbare black sweater aside, Lance wasn't sure he'd seen Keith wear anything different at all the past week and a bit they'd worked together. Lance guessed it was just because he was behind on laundry like he said-either that or Keith was like those cartoon characters who had an entirely identical wardrobe-and shoved the thought aside. He was more concerned about how Keith had gotten here faster-was there some shortcut through the school that Lance could use to get to classes sooner?-and decided eventually that Keith was just a very good runner. Perhaps Lance could pick up some tips to make his running game stronger.

"Afternoon, boys," Allura said with a nod, her eyes still strongly fixed on Lance in case he acted like a horny fool again. The two had come to a truce in the past week since Lance's flirting failure, especially since she seemed to have noticed his affections had switched from her to Keith. Lance tried his hardest to hide them-and they seemed to work with Keith, given how his tutor hadn't said a word or any notice of Lance's behavior-but Allura clearly had a keen eye for which students were into which other students. He wondered if teaching staff at schools paired and shipped students together the way people did with their favorite characters on the Internet. Nah, that was stupid, they didn't do that, right?

"So, um, Keith, if you don't mind," Lance said quietly, kicking himself internally for how difficult he was finding it to talk to the guy lately, "mind if we cover a bit of math tonight? I think we're getting a good start on the other stuff but, uh, I kind of don't want to piss off the teacher I've got."

"Oh, you mean Professor Shiro?" Keith said, perking up, his eyes bright. "Oh, he's a great guy, I can see why you wouldn't want to upset him, he's so nice and smart and h-" Keith blinked, cut himself off and coughed. Lance smirked. So Keith did swing that way after all, did he? Or was it just because everyone seemed to fall for Shiro? The man did seem to have more students in his class than any of the other math professors, that was for sure. "So, um, yeah, what part of his class are you having trouble with?"

"All of it," Lance grunted, tossing his recently graded quiz, previous assignments and monstrously thick and heavy book down onto the table. "I can't seem to get any of this and the homework just takes fucking forever to get through, I don't even finish half the time."

"Hmm. You do know that they have the answers to odd-numbered questions in the back of the book, right?'

Lance's eyes widened. "Wait. Really?!" He flipped open the book and flashed to the back pages, mouth hanging open as he looked down. "Fucking unbelievable! They've been here the whole time?! Has everyone known this but me?"

"Probably," Keith said with a good-natured laugh. "You're always looking at everything around you except what's staring you right in the face, if you ask me. Of course you didn't notice. It's not an end to all your problems, Lance. I mean, you'll still have to do the work for each problem but having some of the answers will help you out, right?"

"I, I don't know what to say, this changes everything! Well, some of everything, but still, oh my god, this'll make things so much easier!" Lance couldn't do a little victory dance or let out a triumphant shout in the middle of the tutoring center and he didn't know what to do to celebrate. Against his better judgment, against all the instincts telling him to continue suppressing the feelings he'd had all week, Lance found himself compelled to kiss Keith right then and there on the lips and did exactly that, grabbing the surprised black-haired boy by the collar of his short red coat and planting a huge, sloppy kiss right on his lips.

The kiss only lasted a second and Lance instantly regretted it the moment he moved apart; his hands felt all sweaty, for one. And yet, the warmth and fleeting feeling of those lips had been so good, so nice. Lance wanted more right away, wanted him and Keith to fall right to the floor and passionately make-out right then and there. Instead, he coughed, made his shyest face and scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck. "Um, sorry, Keith, kind of got carried away there, just, you know, really grateful..."

Keith sniffed and looked away awkwardly as well, his face flustered and flush with red."Um, yeah, no problem, Lance...not that it wasn't bad..." Lance could have sworn he heard Keith mutter "Oh god, that was hot," before licking his lips and drumming his fingers against the table. "So, uh, math, then."

"Yeah," said Lance, somewhat dejectedly, "math."

They continued in quiet for the next hour or two, scribbling away at their work papers, discussing the math assignment at hand but nothing else. The autumn sky went from light gray to dark gray to night outside and Lance swore as he looked up at the clock.

"Fuck! Missed my bus again! And they take even longer to get here at night!" Despite the awkwardness earlier, Lance still felt very much like he could use some more bonding moments with Keith despite also wanting to shove him away and have nothing else to do with the boy. He couldn't handle the emotional roller-coaster his body was taking him on but wanted to ride it out all the same, just to see where it would end. "Any chance for a ride home, too, Keith?"

Keith shrugged. "I don't have any evening classes tonight, so sure, I guess." Keith grabbed his things and gestured to Lance, who did his best not to drop everything as he nervously followed Keith out the doors and towards the hunk-of-junk-mobile. Lance smiled as Keith got in the car and got out something he'd never seen his tutor wear before: a pair of steely-framed glasses, the half-moon lenses making Keith look even hotter than before.

"Not only are you a nerd but a fully-fledged glasses-wearing nerd?" Lance chuckled as he sat down, doing his best to hide just how attractive he thought Keith looked then. Keith gave him a dirty look.

"You play a fuckton of video games and watch all kinds of anime and crap and you dare call me a nerd? Just because I actually read and study? Fuck you." Keith turned on the car and sighed as it sputtered into life. "Look, sorry, I just get touchy about the whole nerd thing, always have, especially with the glasses. I need to wear these when driving at night, my vision's not the greatest then. I hate how I look in them, actually, so please don't point them out."

"Okay, sorry, man." Lance decided he should risk exposing a bit more of his recent attraction in order to get back on Keith's good side. "Um, you actually kind of look good in them, believe it or not. Certainly not dorky at all..."

"Huh. You mean that?"

"Hell yeah! You could definitely get your fair catch of girls if you wore those more often." Lance decided to go further out on a limb. "Or guys, you know, whatever floats your boat. If anything does, that is, for all I know, you're asexual, nothing wrong if you are, that'd be great, too..." Lance realized he was babbling and shut up.

Keith was silent for a second before sighing, side-eyeing Lance as he drove and giving him a small smile. "I like guys, if you must know."

"Really? Oh, uh, well, that's great." Lance wanted to say more, like, Oh my god, I like guys as well as girls, too, I'm starting to like you, you're smart and surprisingly fun to be with and actually really hot want to make-out? Instead, though, he just sighed and said, "So, we working on more stuff tonight?"

Keith shook his head. "Nah, not tonight. I'm feeling really tired. And I need to talk to my landlord again." His hands gripped the steering wheel really tight. "You'll have everything okay for tonight, though, right? And I'll be around to help you finish the first paper tomorrow and the second one the day after."

"Yeah, man, of course. You do what you have to do. I'm sure you've got your own troubles to take care of."

"Yeah. Troubles." Keith went silent for the rest of the drive, muttering something under his breath as they pulled into his aunt's driveway. Lance could've sworn it sounded like "I wish I could stay with you."

Lance muttered his thanks for the ride, got out of the car, and turned towards the garage. He was about to just leave things be for the night when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Keith?"

Keith looked up from the steering wheel. "Yeah?"

"The, uh, school will be having a game this Friday night. If you're not doing anything or don't have work the next day, want to come? As a thanks for all the extra help you've been giving me." Lance wanted to say "as a date," but he was having trouble speaking enough as it was. An experimental one-time fling with another guy hadn't really prepared him for this sort of situation with another guy, not really. "I'll treat you to popcorn and hot dogs. All you can eat!"

"Lance, you don't have to do that..."

"No, I want to. You seem kind of gloomy today and I think you could use it. 7:30 pm on Friday, then?"

Keith's forlorn facial expression turned into a mix of happiness and melancholy. Lance really wondered what was bothering him so much, if his situation was worse off than Keith was making out. Maybe he'd be able to ask after the game. Yeah, then they'd have been together long enough that he wouldn't seem like he was snooping.

"Yeah, Lance, sure. 7:30 sounds great." Keith gave him a wicked grin that more than made up for his earlier sullenness. "A date it is, then."

Lance laughed awkwardly in an attempt to cover up how happy he was to hear Keith say that, uncertain if it worked. He slammed the door shut, waved as Keith drove off, then headed on up to his apartment with a grin on his face and a song in his heart and head, that damn Metallica tune no longer sounding quite so annoying as it had earlier.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, Chapter 2 is a wrap! That went a bit differently than I originally anticipated and I'm glad to be writing a story that isn't just the fast-and-smutty stuff of my previous Klance fics (though I enjoy that very much and am looking forward to writing that part of this story.) Hope you all enjoyed, hope that everyone doesn't sound too OOC or anything (I've only watched Voltron the once and need to do a rewatch soon, especially as I've been enjoying writing all these fics and developing my interpretations of the characters in this AU.) I'm hoping to have Chapter 3 up in a day or so and may write it as a 6-chapter story instead of 5, I'll see. Again, thanks for reading and commenting and for the kudos, you guys are great! :)


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to any and all readers! Thank you for continuing this story and for the kind words and kudos I've received! Here's Chapter 3, this one's got most of the angst that this story has and some small amount of resolution to Keith's background problems, just a heads-up, though that's by far not the end of the story. Thanks again for the hits, kudos and comments, they've really made my week! :)

At the next tutoring session, Keith was nowhere to be found.

Lance had hoped to find him running around the indoor track while he had his break between classes, likely dressed in some stupidly and unwittingly skimpy outfit again, and had seen hide nor hair of the dark-haired nerd. Figuring that he'd messed up in his memorization of Keith's schedule-Keith had learned his right off the bat, it was only fair he attempted to return the favor-Lance had shrugged it off and gone to the late afternoon class he had that day. Arriving at the Tutoring Center ahead of Keith hadn't been unusual for Lance, either, as he'd made it there before him once the week before. However, after ten minutes of waiting, Allura had popped up in the center, folders slipping out of her arms, and gave a frown.

"Oh, Lance, it's you," she said. "I thought you might have been Keith. He usually pops by to say hello in the morning and check if we have any other students for him. All the tutors get desperate for additional students to help, we really don't pay them enough." Allura sighed and deposited the folders on her desk, tsking as several papers slid out. "Damn. Look, wait around a little longer, I'm sure he'll show up. Don't think he's ever missed a session with anyone he's helped this semester and you are his long-term project." She gave Lance a small knowing smile that made him smile nervously in turn. "He'll be around, soon enough, don't you worry. You get on your work and I'll just be entering these transfer requests from Altea-Tech and the Galra Institute, all right?"

"Um, yeah, thanks, Allura," Lance said, slightly crestfallen. If Allura hadn't seen Keith all day, then would he show up at all? Had Keith's situation with his landlord gone that badly the other night, whatever that situation was? Lance tried texting and even calling as yet another half hour and then an hour passed and Keith still hadn't arrived. He couldn't concentrate on his work at all and suddenly found himself very, very worried, which bugged the hell out of him. Keith had only been a strong presence in his life for maybe two weeks, was barely a friend, somewhat of a crush, nothing major. Why did Lance worry so much? It wasn't his life that was in trouble, he was fine with a family that supported him and a comfy if cramped apartment and nothing to do but schoolwork. He had it made, he didn't need to fret and feel nervous. And yet, that's exactly what Lance did as he left the Tutoring Center, giving Allura a muttered "Good Night," and rode the early evening bus home. At least he'd been able to get a head start on the art history paper and presentation that was due, which he'd be spending most of the night on to make sure it actually sounded half-way decent. If Keith wasn't there tonight, well, Lance would just have to get it finished by himself. At least he kind of had an idea where to go, thanks to Keith's guidance.

The bus ride home was quick and quiet as per usual, fortunately free of the semi-regular grotesque right-wing Trump fan who'd been berating everybody aboard about the decay of the nation being due to immigrants and homosexuals. There weren't that many of those kind of people about in the area, thank god, but that neck-bearded man was more than enough for Lance. He hoped that his lack of presence on the bus was due to someone finally getting pissed off and kicking him out the window. If Keith wound up being okay, Lance thought hopefully, then perhaps he could ask for more rides in his junky car so as to avoid that guy. The cons were that he'd have to ask for more gas money from his aunt on one of the days she was home but otherwise, it was all pros. No waiting for buses, a selection of surprisingly decent 80's and 90's music and much, much more Keith. Lance saw no problem with that plan. He just hoped Keith was okay.

As it turned out, Lance discovered as he walked back from the bus stop, not only was Keith okay, he was parked right outside of the garage, waiting on the steps that lead up to the apartment. Keith's face was incredibly ashen and gloomy, his dark eyes nearly completely hidden by his thick, drooping bangs, his slender arms folded around his chest and resting on his kneecaps in a kind of weird, crouching hug. Lance hesitated as he walked toward him. Was Keith here because he came to help with the paper or was it something else entirely?

"Keith, you big old nerd," Lance said with a mild chuckle, hoping he sounded more cheerful and less teasing. "Where you've been? I got all worried and tried getting you with a few texts and a call but you didn't pick up. Is, is everything okay?"

A small smile attempted to creep up Keith's face as he looked up. "Hi, Lance," he mumbled. "No, I'm not really okay. I-I don't want to talk about it right now. Sorry I didn't make it at the school earlier, there-there were some complications." He stood up slowly, brushed bits of dirt and dead leaf off of his skinny jeans, and cracked his fingers. "You want to go work on your paper for tomorrow? You've still got to get some more pictures for that Powerpoint, too, it's looking a little lackluster so far, if you ask me. I'll get my homework done and look at your project from time to time to make sure you've got it wrapped up nice and neatly."

"You sure you don't want to talk about-"

"I'm fine, Lance," Keith said with a slight dark edge to his voice. "Here, we should get inside before it gets too dark and cold."

"Yeah, sure." Lance sighed and bounded up the steps, wanting to know more but glad Keith had laid down the law on awkward personal conversations for the moment. He needed to get through these projects, show he could make progress in class, before he could allow himself to relax and pay attention to his other problems for a while. He didn't know why he thought of Keith's sucky life as one of his other problems, but he found that he did. Keith was starting to feel like a bit more than a crush to him and Lance didn't know how to handle that. "I've got some microwavable mini-pizza bagels in my fridge, if you want some," he said at last, deflecting his own worries away from the chance of being voiced. "I know I'm hungry!"

Keith's stomach growled. "Yes, please. That sounds awesome."

Lance grabbed the mini-pizza bagels and some soda while Keith set up in the corner. He found himself humming that damn Metallica song again as he waited for the microwave and shut himself up. Figuring he could kill two birds with one stone-getting more rides to class and finding out a little more about Keith's troubles-Lance fake-coughed as nonchalantly as he could. Keith sighed and looked up from his textbooks and notebooks as he curled up in a corner chair by the window, his thick, long hair pulled back in that small tail again so he could see what he was reading better. "Yes, Lance, what is it?" Keith asked at last, his voice dry but his eyes twinkling and his smile slightly amused.

"Oh, nothing really, just, just clearing my throat." The microwave dinged and Lance grabbed the mini-pizza bagels which were rather hot but smelled like tiny pre-packaged, processed food heaven. "Um, well, actually, now that you mention it, I got to talking with my Aunt Rose this morning and, uh, well, she said that if you were willing to give me more rides back and forth to class, if you're able, that is, she'll gladly up the expenses budget from my parents so you can have more gas money. I mean, you could use the help, right? That's, um, that's what I gather." Lance realized a second too late he may have made a mis-step with that last bit. Keith, however, didn't say or do anything to suggest that Lance had angered, upset or hurt him.

Instead, Keith shrugged, grabbed the plate of mini-pizzas, and began to wolf them down despite how finger-and-tongue-burning hot they were. "Sounds great to me," Keith said in between bites. "You're right, I could use the money. I don't mind being your chauffeur as well as your tutor, I guess. It's been real nice having someone to talk to while I drive." His tutor ate just a little too fast there and the plate stumbled out of his hand as he grabbed at the hot food. Keith swore as he dropped a couple of the mini-bagels onto his gray t-shirt, jumped out of his chair, and did his best to wipe off the hot, cheesy-saucy mess. "Fucking hell, this is my only clean shirt right now! Fuck!"

"Oh, god, don't worry about that, Keith." Lance ran over to the sprawling, spreading mess of laundry that enveloped his dresser and tugged out a black v-neck t-shirt that he thought might fit Keith, who was of a slightly smaller build. "Here you go. I'll wash you that one, loan you this for now. It's black, even, your favorite color."

"Thanks, Lance, you're a life-saver. Actually, just so you know, red's my favorite color. Black just happens to go with everything." Keith shrugged off the stained t-shirt and Lance tried hard not to watch the guy as he did his impromptu stretching strip-tease. He really did have nice arms, abs, pecs, everything, and perky little nipples, too. Lance shook his head, kept his eyes from wandering down south where a tiny trail of black hair peeked out between studded belt and belly button, and handed over the t-shirt. It was an old shirt that Lance hardly wore any more and for good reason-it was too tight across his chest. Hell, it was a bit tight across Keith's chest, though at least it wasn't a goofy-looking bag like Keith would have possibly looked in his other shirts. Lance found himself staring too long again-the tight t-shirt really fit Keith well-and turned away.

"Ah, that's better. Now, here, you get on your work, let me finish mine, I'll come check on you in an hour, okay?" Lance nodded, grabbed his own bagels and soda, and got down to business. The night wore on as they worked, the TV flashed on for a minute when Lance got bored and flashed right off again when Keith put his foot down on not having distractions (did he not realize that he himself was a distraction? No, Lance was merely the distracted one, he had to remind himself of that), and by about 2:30 am, Lance leaned back with a sigh of relief as he finally not only had the Powerpoint organized the way he wanted, but a conclusion to his paper that didn't sound crap-tastic.

Keith looked over the work and smiled. "Not too shabby, Lance, not too shabby. I think you'll pass this project with flying colors."

"I better, the amount of time I've put into it," Lance grumbled, rubbing at his temples and kicking his legs in the air as he sat back on the squishy couch. "Listen, um, it's really late and all, if you need to stay-"

"I'm fine, Lance," Keith said, speaking at a much brisker pace than usual. "You just get some sleep and worry about you and your paper. I'll see you tomorrow to work on the English paper and then Friday night for the game, right?"

"I'll see you in the morning, you mean, Mr. Chauffeur," Lance said, making his finger-guns and clicking noise again while giving Keith his most charming, winning smile. 

Keith cringed slightly. "Oh, right, yeah, I forgot. I, uh, definitely better get going then. See you!"

Lance's smile turned into a frown as Keith left. Why wouldn't he just tell him what was wrong? They were friends now, they should be able to tell each other their troubles, right? Lance had babbled on about the lack of both ketchup and hot sauce in the cafeteria the other day for ten minutes straight and Keith had listened to him with great intent, so why couldn't Keith tell him when something was clearly bothering him? Lance wasn't one to let sleeping dogs lie, especially when it was about someone he liked. As soon as this week's projects were over and Lance had to move onto the next set, he would demand answers.

The next few days went by achingly slow. Lance turned in one paper, and then another, wishing he could sleep in after two near all-nighters but determined to keep up and make sure he looked like he was attempting to be a model student. He woke up one night to yet another erotic dream featuring Keith-damn it, he had to stop that, he doubted Keith had him on his mind nearly as much, or did he, he did admit to liking guys after all, maybe he was one of those guys?-and another dream that was much more serious, in which Keith faded into deep, dark shadows that drank and destroyed everything around them and wouldn't let Lance near him even as he vanished. They worked, they chatted, they acted like just two average guy friends in college that didn't have huge troubles and huge sexual tension brimming between them in the background as they kept catching the other staring or resting hands on top of one another's.

They listened to lots of 80's and 90's music, too. Somehow, Lance thought he'd get bored of that while being in Keith's crappy car but it was actually rather soothing. He rather liked Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" but was particularly fond of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House" for some reason. Considering how stretched he felt the past few days, burning down a house seemed like a good stress relief idea. Not that he'd actually do it, of course, no arson for Lance.

Friday night came at last and Lance sighed happily as he waited outside his house for Keith to show up for the game, checking his phone all the while. Professor Holt, his Art History teacher, was very quick when it came to grading and said he'd have Lance's grades up by tonight and after only two days, no less. Lance really, really hoped he'd gotten at least a C, maybe a B, even, and was looking forward to showing Keith the results once they showed up in the class's online folders. Of course, that would require Keith to show up in the first place and it was getting really late...

At 7:15 pm, the hunk-of-junk clunker finally slumped into the driveway and Lance dashed over, trying his best not to be pissed off. He could never be on time to anything so why should he get indignant when others were late? Still, he couldn't help be more than a little pissed that Keith wasn't being his usual Mr. Punctual self. Lance slid into the car and frowned when he saw how much stuff was taking up the back. Lance dropped his bag back there-he never knew when he might need it-and picked up a couple of small toys that fell out of a squashed cardboard box. They looked like cheap plasticky 80's cartoon robots, all multi-colored and easily breakable.

"Damn, Keith, you having a yard sale or something?" He turned and looked at his driver-his tutor, his friend-his crush-who had angry eyes peering out from behind his driving glasses. He put his foot on the gas and began driving, faster than usual, silent.

"Uh, earth to Keith, hello? You haven't fallen into a wormhole and gone off into outer space, have you?" Lance tried waving his hands in Keith's face but his fingers got batted away. Oh, right, Keith had to focus on the road. "Keith, what's going on? You showed up late, you've got a ton of stuff in the back...look, we're done work for the week, so you can tell me what's been happening lately. If there's anything I can do to help, I'm your friend now, you can tell me anything..."

"I got evicted, Lance," Keith said at last, his teeth clenched together. "I've been living in my car the past couple of days 'cause I don't want to be a bother to anyone. The money I make from tutoring's only enough to cover food, gas and laundry and barely that and my financial aid doesn't cover enough for any leftover money to come my way like it does with some students. My weekend job at the bookstore plus my savings have helped cover rent and utilities for a while but they've been dwindling for ages, especially as the bookstore keeps cutting my hours." Keith just kept talking in the same deadpan tone, staring straight ahead, voice never faltering. For once, Lance just listened. "My landlord had enough and demanded I get out the other day. I don't have a proper lease, just a month-to month tenant, so he's in his rights to evict me. I've been moving my stuff to a storage unit the past couple days, that's why I missed the other afternoon, and he showed up again tonight as I got the last of my stuff out. He, he said he'd let me stay for one more month if I did him a favor. He knew I was gay, you see, and he's closeted, apparently, said if I sucked him off, I could keep the apartment. Hell, if I let him fully fuck me, he'd give me back utilities, too." Tears formed in the corners of Keith's eyes as he pulled up to the college's parking lot. "Once a month in lieu of rent, I could have just let him have his way with me and I'd be covered. No more worrying about rent. I, I almost said yes but I couldn't do that to myself so I just told him to fuck off and came out here to get you." Keith wiped away at the corner of his eyes and looked at Lance. "And now you know. I'm sorry."

Lance was stunned into silence for several seconds. Eventually, outrage took control of his brain and his mouth. "Fucking hell! I'm going to go kill that guy! There's no way what he's doing is legal, is there?! Any way we can get back at the bastard-"

"Lance, please," Keith sighed as he parked the car, hands still tightly gripping the wheel. "I'm over and done with that. He didn't actually do anything and I'm never going to see the asshole again. I'm fine staying in my car for another few nights till I find somewhere to stay and I've got the school for showers and heat during the day and wi-fi to work on my classes, I'm good."

"Oh, hell no, you're not!" Lance said, folding his arms against his chest as he scowled. "Have you told your parents about this? Where are they, anyway? You haven't mentioned them once."

"That's because they died, Lance," Keith said quietly. "Back when we were in high school. Remember how people like you would use to tease me about always brooding and doing emo stuff? Well, that's why I was like that. Car crash straight into the river, they weren't as lucky as you with your accidents. I've got no other relatives around here, an uncle in Canada I've never met, I think, so I was stuck. I've been living by myself since, living off of their insurance money and whatever I could earn, which helped me buy this car, by the way, using financial aid to help me go here rather than to a better university because, well, I just knew I couldn't get out of this town even if I did well in school. Now that money's all dried up and I've got nowhere to go." Keith tilted his head back, the pale flesh of his neck made prominent by the flash of blazing overhead parking lot lights darting into the car. He looked bone-weary and Lance couldn't believe just how much of this he hadn't noticed, too stuck in his own little world where his biggest worry was passing class so he didn't have to get a job. "I'm used to being by myself, doing what I need to in order to survive. I'll get by, though, Lance, I always do."

"Yeah, and I'll be helping you." Lance pointed a thumb to his puffed-up chest and spoke with deeply felt determination in his voice. If only he'd known about Keith's parents back in high school...No, he probably still would've been a little shit towards the guy. Being alone and miserable had helped change him more than he'd realized. Keith had helped change him, too, and he had to pay him back. "No more of this sleeping in your car at night. It's autumn, for fuck's sake, it'll start getting really cold soon and you don't know how long it'll take you to find somewhere to live. Until further notice, you're staying at my place."

Keith rolled his head over and gave Lance a small smile. "Lance, I'm grateful but you don't have to help me like this, not just because you've got a little crush on me..."

"Who said anything about a crush?" Lance tried his best to gloss over that part. He was still a tiny bit uncomfortable bringing that up, especially now, when he'd offered to help Keith out. He didn't want it to seem like he had an ulterior motive for his suggestion or expected something in return. This was purely his chance to help out someone who was down on his luck, fellow student, friend, crush, whatever. "Keith, your life sucks right now. I know I could be cruel to you in the past and that wasn't right and I'm sorry but we've been working past that, right? We're friends now. Friends help each other out. You're coming to stay unless you really like this cold, cramped car as a sleeping option. I don't think my aunt will mind, not at least for a few weeks. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, you can stay as long as you like!"

Keith's eyes widened and his lips trembled. "Really, Lance, I, I don't know..."

"Listen, Keith, the game's starting in a few minutes. let's go inside, get warm, get some food. Afterwards you're coming back to my place, okay? You're going to let me help you like you've helped me." He grabbed Keith's hands and held them firmly for a minute against his chest. They felt really good, the touch almost electric even with the fingerless gloves, but Lance wasn't concerned about that right now. "Okay?"

Keith's eyes were downcast, his voice a bare whisper. "Sure. Thanks, Lance. I, I..."

"No I's about it, Keith. Let's just get going inside, okay? You're going to be fine. I've got you covered, man."

Soon they were seated in the college's basketball court, laps filled with soda, hot dogs slathered in ketchup and crinkly bags of popcorn drowning in butter. The announcer bellowed out the opposing team, the Galra Institute Bats, to the boos of many, and practically roared out the names of the players of the Voltron-Tech Lions as the crowd cheered wildly, calling their team a group of legendary defenders, which Lance found a little ridiculous yet cheered nonetheless. He and Keith both cracked up when they saw that the school council had indeed come to a stalemate on the mascot color and the bushy-maned lion suit had been dyed in all five they had been debating-the head was black, the arms and legs were green, yellow, red and blue. The game got going to a great start, and Lance kept glancing over to make sure Keith wasn't going to wilt or faint or anything. Keith wasn't as sensitive as he worried, Lance knew, but still, the guy had been through a lot and he'd never known. If he ever found that landlord, he'd give him a good ass-kicking on Keith's behalf.

Keith smiled back at Lance and put his hand on his knee, eyes shining bright though they no longer held any tears. "Thanks, man. Lance. I, uh, I really needed this..."

Lance tried his hardest to look away or cover his own eyes with his shaggy brown bangs but he couldn't help himself. Seeing Keith happy after that conversation in the car stupidly, strangely meant the world to him. It had only been two weeks but Lance finally had to admit to himself, he was a fool in love, falling hard for his tutor like out of some cliche old movie or book. "No problemo, Keith," he said at last, putting his hand on Keith's for a second and then withdrawing, not wanting to withdraw from that warm touch. "You've earned this."

The Lions snagged a score and everyone rose off of the benches for a waving cheer. The cheerleaders down below held up signs that were supposed to spell out GO LIONS but had messed up and now had LION-Go instead. They quickly moved around, to the amusement of everyone.

As the game continued, Lance occasionally pulled out his phone and kept checking to see if Professor Holt had updated his grades online. Nothing, nothing, still nothing. Lance almost gave up until he finally saw a green checkmark next to the folder and clicked to open. The wi-fi went slowly and Lance repeatedly swore at the fucking buffering circle.

Keith peered over his shoulder. "Whatcha looking at?"

"Checking for my grade on the Art History Project, should be up any sec-" Lance swore as the folder finally opened and he scrolled down towards the grade. 92. He'd earned a fucking A-.

"Oh my god," Lance breathed. "Oh my god. I got an A-. I've never gotten an A-."

Keith laughed triumphantly. "Damn it, Lance, I'll make a scholar out of you yet." Lance turned towards Keith, completely bewildered, his jaw hanging low, not knowing what to do or say. Keith had helped him achieve something he never thought possible, more than passing, actually a very respectable grade.

"I, I-"

"No I's about it Lance," Keith said, throwing Lance's words back at him, his grin beaming and brilliant. He licked his lips, looked deeply into Lance's eyes for a moment, grabbed him by the collar just like he had done to him the other day and suddenly Lance found Keith was kissing him like there was no tomorrow, hands holding onto his face, lips smushed together. Lance nearly sputtered and then just went along with it, realizing that this was what he wanted, more than anything, right then.

They pulled away, blushing as a few people near them coughed or gossiped or giggled. There was one asshole who muttered, "Homos" under his breath but otherwise, no one seemed to care. The two boys looked away from each other for a minute before looking at one another again, smiling shyly. They spent the rest of the game more invested in the ball being tossed back and forth, unsure how to act, especially in front of so many people. Eventually, the Voltron-Tech Lions squeaked by with a victory and the whole basketball court erupted with cheers and applause.

Before Lance knew it, he and Keith were back in the car, headed home, happily exhausted from the game but mostly quiet as the radio blared out a late 90's tune-this one Savage Garden's "I Want You." Lance felt like punching the radio for playing such an awkwardly appropriate song right then but instead, he just kept glancing over at Keith, trying to gauge his feelings, get past his guard. It seemed mostly down now but Lance couldn't be sure. How would he feel about taking up the offer of staying over after that absolutely fucking fantastic kiss they'd shared? Lance still felt goosebumps up and down his arms.

The car pulled up into the driveway as the radio continued to belt out the cheesy-sounding and stupidly timely lyrics-"Ooh, I want you, I don't know if I need you, but, Ooh, I'm dying to find out..."

Keith switched off the radio and the car. "God, that song is just so ridiculous," he chuckled.

"Yeah, it is," Lance agreed, laughing. 'What were they thinking in the 90's?"

"I don't know," Keith said with a shrug. He looked out the windshield and up at Lance's place. "So. We're here.'

"Yeah, looks like it."

"I'll have work in the morning," Keith said, " so I'll be up early. So I'm hitting the hay as soon as I get in. You going to stay up and play your games or what?"

Lance shrugged. "I don't know. I might just hit the hay, too."

"Hmm." Keith was thoughtful, rubbing his pointy chin. He looked over at Lance and broke out in a grin again. "Listen, Lance, I don't know what I can do except say thank you, deeply, truly. I never expected someone like you to come to my need but I'm glad you did."

"It's all right, Keith," Lance said with a sigh, wishing they could just walk inside already. "No need to give me anything in return. You just stay as long as you need, I'll work things out with my aunt. Get us both through this semester and maybe I'll take you out again."

"Oh, is that another date, then? Do I really have to wait so long?"

Lance chuckled. "Well, no, I suppose not, especially after what happened back there..."

Keith leaned forward, his dark eyes and smile just too attractive for words. "You liked that, did you? Well, I'm very pleased with what a good student you've turned out to be. Care for, ah, another lesson?"

Lance wanted to give into his desires and dive-bomb for a kiss but he cracked up instead. "Oh man, Keith, that one was cheesy by even my standards..."

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it? I'm still offering, though." He reached for Lance's hand and brought it up to his face. "Well?"

The car was cold and Lance needed some warmth right then. He was done fighting his urges, his longing. He didn't know where this would go but damn if he didn't want to enjoy the ride. "All right."

They brought their faces together, their lips touched slowly and gently and then stronger and stronger until both of them were just one wild, writhing mass of limbs and lips barely able to hold together in the cramped compartment of the car. Steam formed a wall of mist on the windshield, sweat ran down their necks and hands, and the heat and taste of their kisses warmed Lance and Keith both well into the night.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now Chapter 3's a wrap! Whew, that one was a toughie to write, hope everyone liked it. Still a slow-burn for at least another chapter before we get to the naughty bits, for those so inclined to skip ahead to that section, so hope you keep enjoying the story and development of this particular iteration of the Klance ship dynamic for now! Thanks a lot for kudos and comments and reading! Hoping to have Chapter 4 up tomorrow, we'll see. Until then, later, Voltron fandom!


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings, everyone! Here's Chapter Four of my multi-chapter Klance fic! Thank you all so much for reading, enjoying, leaving kudos and comments, it's definitely helped me a ton! Don't know how much longer I'll keep up this story (at least up through Chapter 6), but I'm definitely having fun while doing so. Thanks again for everything, and as usual, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated, you guys are all awesome! :)

"Shit, shit, where did I put them, I've got to go..."

Lance groaned slightly as he shifted in his bed, woke up far earlier than he was accustomed to doing on a Saturday moment, and sat up beneath the sheets. He was greeted by a wonderful sight-over by the couch where he had slept the previous night, Keith was searching the center of the tiny apartment for his pants, crawling around on all fours and looking intently underneath every scrap of furniture, dressed only in a black tank-top and tight, tiny rust-red briefs, his rounded, scarlet-clad butt practically wriggling in the air as he moved about. They'd spent much of the previous night making out after getting home from the game, an act that left him so hot and bothered that Lance still felt tingly all over, but they'd ended the night at that. Considering all that Keith had gone through, and the fact that they'd just really realized their growing affections for each other, Lance wasn't going to push it any further for now. He wouldn't have minded Keith staying in his bed, at least, if that's what he'd wanted, but his dark-haired tutor-boyfriend? were they at that level now?-had insisted on sleeping on the couch. Lance had gladly respected his wishes and wouldn't move any farther or faster than Keith wanted to, regardless of how horny he was and how much he wanted one of them to jump the other, he wasn't sure which yet. Still, he did very much appreciate getting such a view of Keith's scantily clad ass and flustered face upon waking up.

"Well, good morning," Lance said sleepily, wriggling his eyebrows as Keith's startled face looked behind him, cheeks flushed as red as his underwear. "Take it you slept well, Keith? Nice Jockeys, by the way, very form-fitting for one of your best features."

"M-morning, Lance," Keith stuttered. "Thanks for the compliment, I think. Um, not to be rude to my new host or roommate or anything but I have to leave for work in just a few minutes and, um, did you happen to see where I tossed my pants last night when I went to bed?"

Lance shrugged, slipped out of his thick red blankets and pulled his favorite pale blue bathrobe on, seeing as he was similarly lightly dressed in only a faded gray t-shirt and grass green boxer-briefs. "I fell asleep a few minutes before you, Keith, don't know where you put them." Lance stretched and yawned, looked around, looked up, and snickered as he pointed up. "Well, seems you let got a little excited going to bed last night. Look."

Keith's face followed Lance's finger and immediately turned into a cringe. His jeans were hanging off of one of the wooden beams crisscrossing over the apartment. "Whoops. Guessed I tossed them and didn't see where they landed."

"Hmm. If you're going to work, why would you need your skinny jeans? Unless the bookstore you work at has a very relaxed uniform policy..."

"I left my keys and wallet in the pockets," Keith grumbled as he got up on the couch in an attempt to reach the discarded pants hanging from the rafters. "I'll get dressed for work as soon as I have them." He jumped up and down on the couch cushions slightly and Lance was treated to a very nice sight of Keith's abs as his tank top rode up and his bulge bouncing slightly in his briefs. Of course, it was rude to stare so Lance headed over to his tiny kitchen and got some coffee brewing, occasionally glancing over anyway. Keith finally managed to snag at the cuffs of his jeans, yanked them down, and made a triumphant grunt. He snagged his keys and wallet and then searched through his bags for more appropriate attire for work.

"So. How long you at the bookstore for?"

"10 AM to 7:30 pm," Keith sighed. He yanked on some black slacks, that threadbare black sweater of his and grabbed a name badge from the duffel bag at the base of the couch. Everything else Keith owned was still in the car or back at his storage unit, though Lance would gladly help him move it in later. "Not a bad shift, I've had worse. At one point in senior year, I was tutoring, working at the bookstore and taking a second shift at its coffee-shop at the same time. Don't think I saw a free weekend at all that year."

"Coffee-shop, huh? Did you have to wear one of those little black aprons?"

"Fuck yeah, and you bet I was cute in them." Keith gave Lance another one of his sheepish smiles and walked over to the kitchen. "Glad you're the one making us coffee now, though, I hated working behind that counter. Again, Lance, I just want to say, thank you so-"

"No need to thank me. I'd do this even if we weren't, you know, into each other." Lance still felt a bit odd saying that at the same time he felt good to admit the feelings he'd denied himself over the past couple of weeks. The coffee pot finished brewing so he poured a mug and grabbed the Coconut creamer from the mini-fridge, his favorite flavor. "So, Keith, you still have a few minutes before you leave, right?"

"Um, yeah, sure, I already showered and everything, I thought I'd be dressed and gone already before you caught me in such an indelicate state..."

Lance leaned forward and smirked. "Hmm, glad I woke up early, then." Keith chuckled, leaned forward as well, and gave Lance another deep kiss that warmed him more than the coffee he'd just started sipping at. Keith pulled away a second later, though, and coughed, wincing. 

"Whoo, bit of morning breath there, Lance, better go take care of that..."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Lance laughed awkwardly and smacked his forehead. "Here, if you still have a minute, I can get ready quick and come with you. There's bread for toast or Pop Tarts if you haven't eaten breakfast..."

Keith blinked, truly surprised. "Wait. You, you want to come with me?"

"Sure, why not? Not like I had any other plans, not really. I was just going to goof off and if you weren't here to be busy riding my ass about doing homework, it wasn't like I was going to do that yet."

Lance thought he heard Keith mumble something about "Do your homework and maybe I'll start riding your ass for real," and Lance felt his ears burning bright red as he headed for the bathroom. "I mean, the bookstore's in the mall, right?" Lance shouted out the cracked-open door as he turned the shower-head on and began stripping, trying very hard to ignore that muffled comment. "No reason I can't hang out there as well while you do your job. Or better yet, I could follow you around and see what you get up to there. You've spent a lot of time with me lately, I should come spend some time with you."

"Um, that's awfully sweet, Lance, but I will actually be working. You might be better going with your first suggestion, hanging out at the mall till I get off for the night."

"Sounds good to me!" Lance tossed his old shirt and underwear out the bathroom door, eliciting a small squeak from Keith, and climbed in under the hot water, pulling the transparent blue shower curtain behind him. "We could get a bite to eat when you're on your break, right?"

Though it was a little hard to hear Keith's voice due to the running shower, he did hear him call out "Sure. Not bad plans for a second date." Lance blushed again and decided very much to concentrate on washing himself and ignore his twitching cock as it demanded his attention. No time to let lingering thoughts of last night flood his system with arousal and desire. He had to rush if he wanted Keith to be on time for work, a fact that Lance was reminded of when Keith stuck his head in the bathroom a couple minutes later and said "Lance, we've got to hurry!"

Lance went "Eep!" as he attempted to cover his wet, naked body, hands immediately flying to his crotch. Between the steam and the curtain, Lance couldn't have been that visible to Keith, but he didn't want to take any chances.

Keith let out a low wolf-whistle and wiggled his eyebrows anyway. "Hmm, guess this is payback for earlier, huh? Not bad, not bad at all."

"K-Keith! I'll be out in a minute! Shoo!"

"Okay, okay!" Keith chuckled, tapping at his watch. "Time's running short, though, few minutes left for any beauty treatments you might want..."

"I'll show you beauty treatments," Lance growled as he Keith shut the door behind him, not knowing what he meant by that but growling it all the same. Lance finished up as quickly as he could, brushed his teeth, grabbed his towel, stormed out towards his bed and got changed into jeans and a blue-gray sweater as discretely as he could while Keith looked the other way. Several minutes later, they were out in the crappy car and on their way to the mall, listening to the radio belt out Van Halen's "Panama" once more.

"Come on, come on," Keith grumbled as they found themselves stuck in surprisingly busy Saturday morning traffic. Lance loved the little angry look he got in his dark eyes as they were hidden behind his driving glasses, which he'd needed to wear as the morning sky was a murky, misty gray. "Damn it, I hate the traffic as the holidays approach! It always makes me late! I can't be late, not now!"

"Keith, it's not the end of the world if you're late, you know, not like you're going to melt into orange goo or anything..."

A puzzled expression washed over Keith as he looked at Lance while the traffic continued to stall. "Huh?"

"Oh, sorry, Evangelion reference, I forgot you haven't watched that one yet or its finale movie. Spoilers, the world ends, it's very weird and violent and super-symbolic and hey, look, the traffic's moving..."

Keith snorted as he moved up through the green lights, going as fast as the sluggish stream of cars would let him. "And you say I'm the nerd. Anime-loving dork..."

"Bookish mullet-wearing goody-two-shoes emo boy," Lance shot back, smiling.

"Stupidly hot gaming meme-loving freak," Keith said, returning the smile. Lance turned his face away and blushed again-god damn it, he needed to stop doing that, he was supposed to be all smooth and seductive, not a shy and wobbly train-wreck. Had he been this bad with his ex-girlfriends or that one guy he'd had that one-night stand with? Lance couldn't recall.

They made it to the mall just in time for Keith's shift and Lance sighed as he had to part from his new friend-lover-whatever he was. Though he wasn't used to kissing guys in public yet, he let Keith land a big, wet one on his lips anyway. The glasses were still on, which made Keith super-hot in Lance's book, so that just sweetened the moment. They waved bye and Lance wandered off throughout the loud and noisy place, surprised that the mall's giant wreaths and candy cane colored banners were already going up, given Halloween was still a day or two away. He shrugged it off-who knew what went on in the minds of retail overlords?-and headed to the Food Court for a smoothie, having missed out on breakfast so Keith could get to work on time. He'd even grabbed some fresh garlic knots from the local pizza place, drawn in by their heavenly aroma. He'd eaten far weirder things than that for breakfast and far, far more disgusting.

A few hours of wandering the video game, comics and toy stores later, Lance returned to Keith's bookstore, smiling as he saw Keith from afar, helping some grumpy little old lady pick out a bunch of really thick novels that Lance would never be able to sit through. Keith was still wearing the glasses-probably for extra nerd aesthetic, Lance imagined, likely helpful in a bookstore-and Lance continued to watch the guy move around and help people with their purchases and with shelving for a few minutes, happy to see Keith more animated than he had since before last night. Lance had no idea if it was simply because retail people were expected to be continuously perky and polite automatons for their customers all the time or if he'd really helped Keith feel better, but Lance hoped it was the latter. The boy needed some genuine happiness in his life and Lance wanted to provide as much as he could. An odd feeling but a welcome one, given his somewhat jerkish past.

Eventually, after the old lady left, he went up to Keith, tip-toeing as he approached from behind, and gently ran his fingers up the back of his neck, tickling him beneath the thick tufts of his mullet. "Guess who...?"

Keith made a very fake-sounding gasp as he was turned the other way. "Satan? Is that you? Has the Dark Prince come to claim me at last?"

Lance spewed out a weird laugh and gave Keith the oddest look as he turned away from his book-laden cart. "What? What the hell was that, man?"

"Oh, don't you know? Haven't you met the old lady I was helping a few minutes ago? You see, according to her, I'm a Satanist or something, due to my wearing black and red all the time and liking heavy metal and "emo" bands and stuff. She calls me Satan-spawn every time she comes here and yet insists on me being the one to help her find books for her grandkids. Who are bigger nerds than either of us, apparently, going by what she picks out for them. God-or Satan, I suppose- Just imagine what she'd think if she knew I was gay."

"Pfft. Or if she saw the two of us together and knew we were dating and that I was bi." Lance realized he hadn't voiced that fact about himself aloud but Keith didn't seem to care, not saying anything. Lance had attempted dating another guy a second time once but he'd been put off by his whole being bi rather than fully gay and hadn't stayed more than a few minutes, the bastard. "So. Um, anyways. You ready for a lunch break yet?"

"Yeah, sure, let me finish getting this cart emptied and I'll ask the manager. I'll have to make it quick, though, we're getting swamped and it's not even November yet. Can't imagine what it'll be like once the holidays roll around, especially seeing as we're short-staffed. Been putting up For-Hire signs and barely anyone's applied. We especially need help in the coffee-shop since Pidge quit."

Lance stroked his chin. He really, really didn't like working, not since his one high school job at the pizza place had ended badly, but, on the other hand, he really, really liked Keith. It wasn't as if Lance really needed the money-as long as he went to school and didn't ask for too much, his parents and aunt were more than generous-and yet, he knew that he could help Keith out in more ways than just letting him stay for a while. It wasn't as if he wanted Keith to leave him so soon-far from it-but he was sure Keith would want his own space as soon as possible. If he could save some money for him over the holidays...

"Any chance I'd be able to get the open position at the coffee shop?" Lance said at last, causing Keith to stumble and nearly collapse into his book cart.

"Wait. You want to work at the coffee shop?" Keith said with a small chuckling cough. "I mean, I know you've proven you're not the lazy lout I thought you were-far from it, those hands of yours can get really busy-but, um, are you sure? You still need to get your grades up to snuff, you've only had one good assignment returned and I'd like to see you keep getting better..."

"Why not? If I just work weekends here like you, I shouldn't be too bad. And you'd be able to give me a ride back and forth, so I'd be set for transportation. We'd get to see more of each other, too. What d'you say? Get me an application?"

"I, um, well, sure..." Keith pulled off his glasses and rubbed them clean with the edge of his sweater. "Just when I thought you'd already helped me a ton, you're stepping up again. There's no need for you to go this length for me, you know, Lance. Trust me, I can tell you like me, more than like me..."

"Keith. You got to stop deflecting. I know its hard and I know you're not used to people wanting to help you without getting something in return but trust me, you're already giving me enough. Just, just let me do this..." He wouldn't bring up that he'd be earning the money for Keith, either, not given how he was reacting just to the suggestion of him working there. He'd wait till around Christmas, spring a surprise. it wouldn't even be that much but it'd be more than Keith had now.

"Um, okay, Lance, thanks..." Keith smiled bashfully again and Lance really, really wanted to kiss him some more. He'd wait till later, though. "Here, just let me finish up..."

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Their lunch was at the same pizza place Lance had gotten the garlic knots from and they wound up sharing another bowl of those plus a large pizza with cheese that was drippier than Lance's brain during a math test. Keith made a weird face while trying to eat the hot and melty cheese slice all in one go and Lance laughed so loud that he turned heads. They babbled about some of the stupider customers Keith had dealt with recently, with Lance realizing he'd probably done some of the same stupid things himself before, and they'd wound up checking out the movie theater for anything good for later that night, both of them pissed off that there was nothing good playing that weekend. Keith worked the rest of the day, stopping by the coffee shop for one more quick break and some coffee, and Lance wandered around the rest of the time, cursing his phone as he picked up yet more Pidgeys playing Pokemon Go. As soon as Keith was done his shift, Lance filled out the application, causing Keith to blush tremendously as he introduced himself to the manager as Keith's boyfriend, which he'd decided he wanted to be called after all. Around 8pm, they finally left the mall, Keith shuddering from the cold as he tugged on his short red-and white coat-which Lance no longer found stupid yet strangely cute on his tutor-and they headed home to the tune of The Cure's "Friday, I'm In Love."

Tacos and yellow rice from the local Mexican place served as dinner-with some actual salad on the side, as Lance had been missing greens the past few days-and, with no good movies at the theater playing, they settled down for Guardians of the Galaxy on Lance's Blu-Ray player. They missed most of the movie, though, as they spent a good deal of it making out, lips and tongues and teeth roaming all around each other's faces and necks, Lance tugging off Keith's sweater and leaving him in the black tank top, greedy, grabbing hands rubbing under fabric and all over chests and backs. Once they realized they'd missed most of the movie, they switched it back to the menu and started again. Lance found himself sinking into Keith's arms as the movie played a second time, despite Keith being the slightly smaller one, and felt muscles unkink and unknot in ways he hadn't experienced in some time. Keith's cheeks turned red as Lance leaned against his chest and belly, head beneath Keith's chin, and Keith settled for running his hands through Lance's brown hair. Lance arched his back slightly at the soft, sensitive touch upon his scalp.

"God, you're such a dork," Keith chuckled. "Were you this gushy in high school? Where's that jerk I couldn't stand working with all those years?"

Lance shrugged. "Don't know. Probably ran off and fell in a ditch. We should file a report or something."

"I don't know. I think I'd rather keep this one. He does his homework and gets me food and lets me watch movies with him and is genuinely nice and really just a big dork. And he's a hell of a kisser. I think this Lance is definitely an improved model."

Lance grinned wickedly. "Improved model, am I? Well, wait till you see all the bells and whistles you didn't get to use on the old one."

"Oh, I will, in time, in time." Keith sighed and tilted his head back against the couch, truly relaxing for the first time in the over two weeks they'd worked together. "For now, though, this is what I want, just this. This is nice, real nice..."

Lance sighed happily as he lowered his head down to rest in Keith's lap instead, not worried about any weird and awkward boner situation this time. He was glad his lust was sated for now because Keith was right, this was nice. He had someone who needed him and, vice-versa, Lance found himself needing Keith. "Yeah, you're right. Let's watch the movie and just fall asleep here together? If that's all right?"

"Sure. Why not? Just have to set an alarm for work." Keith reached over for his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and settled down as he set it aside. "There. Now, let's watch aliens and shit blowing up."

"Agreed." A sleepy grin fell on Lance's face as Keith rubbed at his head and stroked his shoulders, glad for the warm, soft touch of a boyfriend he never, ever thought he'd have in his wildest dreams. And yet, here they were, falling for one another and Lance felt content for the first time in weeks. He hoped Keith felt the same way. Judging by his smile, he did.

The house settled in the chill of the autumn night as the two boys fell asleep in each other's arms on the couch, glad to have the company and affection of the other, neither ever expecting it from such a source but both happy that they were together in the end.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, and that was Chapter Four, the cute and fluffy silly chapter! Not much in the way of conflict but still fun to write. I'm thinking next chapter will be the smuttier one for those looking forward to that, I don't know, will have to see when I sit down to write. Anyway, thanks for reading/commenting/kudos, I hope to have the next chapter up tomorrow night, we'll see. Thanks again, Voltron fandom and Klance fandom! :)


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and thanks for reading/commenting! Here's Chapter Five of this story, ready and waiting and full of fluff and the first real bits of the promised smut (I'm saving the rest for Chapter 6, so I've decided, so be on the look-out for that later, hopefully tomorrow.) This chapter will feature a few small time skips over the course of a few weeks as well as I wish their relationship to proceed a bit further before getting to the last couple chapters (likely going to end at 7, maybe 8.) Also, if anyone cares about timeline nonsense, I haven't been keeping too tight an eye on that thing, figured as it's from Lance's POV, not like he'd notice, anyway. Hope all you incredibly kind Klance fans will enjoy this and thank you so much for the reading, commenting and kudos, it's all meant a lot to me :)

Keith went alone to work at the mall that Sunday, so that Lance could move in all the boxes he had on hand. They would go and see about getting a few things from the storage unit but, for now, what Keith had with him in the car would do. Lance groaned, grunted and at one point squeaked as he moved the surprisingly heavy boxes up the steps by himself, his aunt coming out of her house to sigh and shake her head at several points. She was actually home for a day or two, for once, and had briefly met Keith over Sunday breakfast, insistent that Lance's new "roommate" get a good meal in him before heading to work. Lance had never seen anyone shovel so much eggs and bacon into their mouth at once as Keith did that morning.

Fortunately for the two of them, Lance's aunt didn't mind having Keith over as an extra above-garage tenant for as long as he needed to pull himself together-and her knowing wink over breakfast suggested she knew that he might be staying for different reasons, which merely made Lance squirm and blush. Keith didn't notice as he was too busy wolfing down his third helping of toast before dashing out the door to work.

Some time later that evening, after all the boxes had been moved in, Keith returned home in a slight stupor, his face slightly dizzy and dazed beneath the messier-than-usual mullet moptop. "Hi," he groaned as he flopped face-first onto Lance's couch. Lance moved aside-he'd been playing Left 4 Dead 2-and gently patted Keith on the head as he mumbled into the couch cushions. "There, there, Keith. I'm sure the mall customers couldn't have been that bad...could they?"

Keith's face moved up from the couch cushions, one eye twitching, his expression sour. "Halloween in another day, remember? Some people have started bringing their kids around the mall trick or treating already. You wouldn't believe how many little witches, goblins and aliens I had to help wrangle and look after. Candy wrappers all up and down the graphic novel aisle and chocolate smeared all over the children's and YA sections. No damage done to the romance novels or right-wing political books, sadly." Keith blew a sagging black bang out of his eye, moved himself up off the couch, and sat down properly. "I'm just happy the mall closed early today..."

Lance draped an arm around Keith's sweater-clad shoulders and pulled him closer. "Hmm. So am I. I got all your things in, by the way, hope that makes the car a little less cramped..."

"Hell yeah." Keith leaned forward and gave Lance a kiss that was long enough that it didn't feel chaste or soft but short enough that Lance was left wanting more. "I'll probably leave most of my stuff in them for now but I hope you don't mind me unpacking a few things, just some books and stuff, nothing major..."

"Why would I mind? Just don't mess up my system and we're good."

Keith scanned the apartment, with its scattered piles of video games, DVDs and Blu-Rays, dirty laundry and clean clothes mixed together, basketballs and sports equipment haphazardly stacked with empty pizza boxes in one corner and a stand lamp knocked over onto the floor and draped beneath a pile of blankets in another. "Yeah, some system..." Keith shook his head. "You're as badly organized as your essays were before I got to them. If you don't mind me asking, do you have ADHD? I've known some people who have it, and they often use some very simple and structured organizing techniques to help keep their lives in order. I know a lot of ignorant people call them lazy or easily distracted but they're not, the world's just too cluttered for them..."

"I don't know, man, never been tested or anything." Lance shrugged, got up, and grabbed a few things from the mini-fridge. He was uncomfortable talking about that sort of thing for reasons he couldn't explain and decided to move on. "Here, want me to make us some grilled cheese sandwiches? I've got a hot plate up here. My aunt usually goes out to eat dinner and I'm forbidden from using her stove after the Omelet Incident two months ago."

"I don't even want to know." Keith sighed, got up, tidied a few things, then grabbed a few of his books out of his bag. "You can actually make those sandwiches, though, I take it? You're not going to set this apartment on fire? I did just get here, after all, I'd hate to see it burn down, even if it would solve some of your cleaning and organizing problems."

"Yes, Keith, I'm not entirely incompetent." He looked down at the bag of shredded cheese he'd grabbed and noticed the expiration date was set for a month back. "Um, well, maybe I am a little..." He scrounged through the mini-fridge again and found to his relief some fresher cheese. "So. Grilled cheese and homework, not a bad way to spend the night, I guess..."

"Shh," Keith said as he looked down at his books, scrabbling notes into three separate notebooks, all of them black. "I'm busy." After a minute, he looked up again. "Don't mind me using your laptop for a bit later, do you?"

"No, not at all." Lance blinked and let out a large, awkward cough. "Let me, uh, clear my browser history a bit first..."

"Not even going to ask." Keith returned to his homework, looking up to smile and chat a bit as soon as the sandwiches were finished (and actually not bad, even to Lance's surprise), but otherwise spending most of the night in quiet unless Lance needed help with a problem in his math homework. Eventually, midnight rolled around and as Keith would be driving Lance to class, they both decided to get to sleep-Keith still on the couch, Lance in the bed. Lance did hope that Keith would move over to his side of the apartment some time soon but he understood why he still kept his distance. Lance was lucky that Keith was as affectionate as he was, given all the depressing life-crap he'd been through. He didn't know if his tutor-his boyfriend, he had to correct himself, he was both but his boyfriend first now, slightly odd though the term still was-was putting up a front for Lance's sake or if he was just generally good at handling himself in crappy situations. Whatever the case, Lance would let him take all the time he needed and would be there as soon as he felt he needed him.

The autumn night air had grown steadily chillier outside, even with the apartment's decent insulation, so Lance had donned some comfy blue pajamas for bed (a matching pair of bunny slippers was hiding beneath the bed.) Keith, on the other hand, seemed the kind of guy who went fully clothed or in nearly-nothing to bed and had stripped down to his tank-top and underwear again before curling up under the blankets on the couch. The lights went out, the alarm clocks were set, and all was quiet. Too quiet. Lance couldn't sleep and he was pretty sure Keith couldn't, either, judging by the rustling sounds from the couch.

"Keith?" Lance whispered, hoping his voice carried across the room. Most people assured Lance that he was quite the loudmouth so he doubted there'd be a problem.

"Yeah, Lance?" Keith whispered back, a slight edge of irritation to his voice.

"Can't sleep. You?"

"No, me either." Keith sighed. "I got all pent up at work and then tired once I left and now I can't get anywhere sleep-wise. Homework's still dancing about in my brain. I think I may have messed up on my last set of questions for Biology."

"Hmm. Sounds like you could use a tutor, Keith. I got one, they're great. Mine came with extra perks, too."

Keith snorted and tossed a couch pillow over at Lance's bed. "I'll show you extra perks..."

Lance laughed and tossed the pillow back. "Oh, what? Like a pillow fight? A sexy pillow fight?"

"Only in your dreams. Now, go to sleep, Lance," Keith chuckled, groaning as he hid his own face beneath a pillow.

"Told you, I can't. I don't know, something's bothering me, keeping me awake." Lance paused and snapped his fingers. "I know! Halloween tomorrow! Got any plans?"

"Considering everything that's happened lately, do you think I had any plans?" Keith grumbled. "Why, do you?"

"Oh, um, well, not really," Lance said, wincing at how inconsiderate he was. God, he really needed a jerk-filter between his brain and voice. "I mean, you know, there's always parties to be found that we could go to, haunted houses with cheesy effects we could mock and dark corners of the park to get drunk and make out in after gorging on candy..."

"Hmm. And what kind of costume would you be wearing while we're busy with such a crowded night of fun, frolic and follies?"

"God, Keith, more normal-talk, less nerd-speak." Lance thought for a second. "I don't know, I didn't get any new costumes this year and the Costume Depot will have only junk left that'll go on clearance the day after."

"Do not speak to me of clearance," Keith groaned. "I've had to mark down too many James Patterson and Danielle Steel books on clearance. I assure you, it is tedious beyond belief..."

"Oh. Sorry. Wait, I do have a couple of costumes left from previous years. I've got my old vampire cloak and false teeth, I could do Dracula. It's cliched as hell but it could work." Lance smirked evilly even if it was unlikely Keith could see him well in the dark room. "Instead of the usual "I Vant To Suck Your Blood", I could always follow you around and say "I vant to suck your cock-"

"Do that and you'll never get the chance," Keith cut him off.

"Ok, ok, sorry. I know, I do have this old blue, black and white astronaut-like uniform I could wear, kind of a futuristic pilot-knight thing, some sort of space paladin. Even has a little plastic sword to go with. Think I've still got it stashed around here, I'll go in that. You got anything for a costume you could make out of your stuff or do you need me to loan you something?"

"Hmm. I could probably do something on the fly, I suppose. I think I've got a black robe and my Slytherin scarf back in the storage unit, could always do a generic Hogwarts student..."

"Whoa whoa whoa-I, the hunkiest, handsomest Gryffindor in this room, am dating a Slytherin?! Well, there's something for any fan fic writers we may acquire at school..."

"Which'll be exactly none. God, of course you're a Gryffindor, why am I not surprised?" Keith sighed sleepily. "Look, I'll think of something. You go as your astronaut-whatever and I'll surprise you with something by the time we have our afternoon session, all right? Good luck on whatever grade you get on your English paper, by the way. Now, please, I do need some sleep, and so do you. Good night, Lance."

"Oh, um, yeah, sounds good." Lance had hoped to keep talking for much longer-hell, hoped it might help Keith come on over and fall asleep together like last night-but he would respect Keith's wishes. "Yeah, good night..."

The next morning's drive saw yet more mist, more bad traffic, and Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" play over the radio, followed by Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta," a name that sounded vaguely dirty in Lance's mind. Keith kept snickering and looking away as Lance had decided to don his space-pilot costume already. "I'm sure Professor Coran and Shiro will love to see you wearing that in their classes..." Keith sighed. He was still dressed as normal, though he'd assured Lance he'd be all costumed up later.

"Why not? I bet they'll be wearing something festive. Knowing Shiro, he's got tin foil and Christmas tree lights wrapped around his prosthetic arm and is pretending to be a cyborg. An older student told me he did that last year..."

"Huh, guess I'll have to see that." They pulled on up to the school, the tires screeching and exhaust pipe rattling, and Lance beamed as he saw several other students and a professor bustling on in in costume. "Better do something good, Keith. I don't want to be stuck looking the dashing space-pilot with a boyfriend who forget a costume on Halloween."

"Sure I won't look like the sane, rational student with a dorky and ridiculous outer-space boyfriend instead?"

"Nah, nothing sane about that mullet." Lance ruffled Keith's hair, receiving an automatic blush and bugged-out eyes in return, and gave him a faux salute and a grin. "See you!"

Being Halloween, barely anyone in the student body could concentrate, of course, though Professor Coran and Professor Holt tried their best to keep their classes focused, reminding them all they were adults and should act like it, to a great many boos. Professor Shiro had indeed gone as a tin-foil cyborg, much to the delight of many of the nerdier students, and had gushed over Lance's outfit like a dad proud and happy for his child (made even prouder by the fact that Lance had all his homework done, on time and complete, no less.) Lance skipped his usual gym routine to hang out in the orange-and-black decorated cafeteria and gorge on the cookies and cupcakes provided by the usually stingy student council, slightly upset that Keith wasn't there for lunch and for the goofiness. He was probably too busy trying to make some very last minute costume and would probably miss out on all the fun.

As Lance ate what had to be his twelfth helping of candy corn and cupcakes, a set of fingers darted up his neck just like he'd done the other day at the bookstore. Lance turned around, ready to make a cheesy grin and a laugh, and merely frowned in puzzlement. "Um, what are you supposed to be, Keith?"

Keith hadn't been able to get to his storage unit for the Slytherin robes and scarf, apparently, and had gone with something very impromptu and inexplicable instead. Purple face paint, fake tufty bat ears and some sunglasses with yellow-tinted lenses plus Keith's regular outfit apparently constituted a costume in Keith's book. "Ta-da," Keith said sardonically. "Look, you're a space-pilot, I'm an alien...Or half-alien, I guess, there wasn't enough face-paint for my hands and actual yellow contact lenses, these glasses suck..."

"An alien," Lance snorted. "Would've never guessed. Are those ears the ones the Galra Institute fans wear when they're cheering on their team at games?"

"Yep. I thought they looked suitably alien."

"Huh. Don't let the registrar know you're part-Galra now, don't think they'll like that..." Lance stroked at his chin and smirked. "Well, if you are a deadly alien here to kill us all, Keith, guess it's my duty to chase you around and stop you..."

"Oh, no you don't, Lance," Keith squeaked as Lance lunged and started trying to catch Keith in a headlock so he pin him to the ground and tickle him. They scuffed and wrestled as they bumped chairs about, eventually landing on top of one another as they fell onto a couch, causing several people to laugh and a few girls-and at least one guy-to murmur at their actions with appreciation.

"Looks like the alien caught you instead," Keith said, smirking. Lance huffed and heaved and grinned as he found he'd been pinned against the couch with Keith straddling him, their faces close to one another as he leaned forward. After a moment, they realized how awkward it looked even if people didn't know they were dating and quickly moved apart. The cafeteria party was ending soon, so it was time for them to head to the tutoring center. Neither of them could concentrate on their work, though, and wound up leaving early, waving to Allura as she sat behind her desk, wearing fake pointy elf-ears and a chintzy tiara and eating far too many gummy worms as she lazily typed away and dealt with other incoming students in need of assistance from the other tutors.

Halloween night itself was a blast. The two boys kept up their astronaut and alien act to every place they went, Lance surprising several of his old friends at one haunted house when he mentioned Keith was his boyfriend (and fortunately receiving nothing but warm welcomes from all of them, including those who hadn't been in the know as to his sexuality.) They got far more chocolate and candy than either of them expected, especially given how many grumpy adults slammed doors in their face once they realized neither of them were children, and quite a few caramel apples from one place, enough to last them both a week. However, upon nearing the park that Lance had wanted to take Keith to, the fun stopped for a moment. Lance looked over at Keith and realized he was standing still, his gaze turned towards a run-down set of brick buildings across the street.

"Anything wrong, Keith?"

"That's where I lived till last week," Keith sighed, looking even gloomier with the makeshift alien make-up. "Didn't know we'd be coming round this part of town. You know, I haven't done Halloween the past few years, always felt it was a bit too kiddish and then after my parents died and I was left alone and my situation got worse and worse, well, I was just too busy trying to keep going to even think about it...I don't know if I deserve to have a night like this, not when I need to find a way to not be a burden to you for any longer than necessary..."

Lance's jaw hung open for a sec before he grabbed Keith, spun him around and gave him a hug. "Listen, forget about all that, if you can. I know you can't get over that right away but that part's over now. You're not a burden, Keith. Let me worry about that stuff for a while. For now, just enjoy the night-if you can. If not, we can head right back..."

Keith sighed and smiled at Lance once they moved apart. "No, no, I'll be good...let's go mess about in the park, check out some haunted houses, then go home, okay?"

"Fine by me." They did exactly that, spending far too much time out in the chilly air but enjoying it all the same as they posed for excited little kids, took selfies by the statues and tossed a few eggs at Keith's old land-lord's place, the best sort of revenge they could ask for at the moment . It was nearly 2 am by the time they got back to the apartment, Lance's helmet unfortunately lost somewhere, Keith having wiped off the face paint and tossing the bat-ears aside. As Lance ran up the steps to open the apartment door, Keith stopped him by grabbing at his hand, his dark eyes lost beneath his long lashes.

"Yeah? What is it, Keith? You didn't have too much beer at that one party, did you? 'Cause I don't want you to throw up on my steps. You're cleaning it up if you do."

"No, Lance, you big dork," Keith said through clenched teeth. He looked away, embarrassed, then moved up the steps a bit so he could give Lance a huge whopper of a kiss, better than all the ones he received before. Lance was pinned against the door and rather tired but he didn't care, not if this was what kept him up.

"Lance," Keith sighed as he rested his chin on Lance's shoulder, "I just want to say thank you. For tonight, well, for all of today, and more. I've had more fun in the past week than I have in the past year, all 'cause of you..."

"No need to mention it, Keith. You've helped me become a better student-hell, a better person, I think, in just a couple of weeks, no less. You don't need to thank me, though I'm glad you are."

They stepped inside and Lance began to shrug off his costume, the fatigue of the evening finally settling and the call of his bed irresistible. Surprisingly, Keith did not move towards the couch and instead looked over at the corner where Lance slept.

"I, um, if it's not too much to ask," Keith muttered, "mind if I sleep with you tonight? Not, not in that sort of way, not yet, I'll let you know when I'm ready for that..."

"Dude, Keith, it's all right," Lance laughed as he tugged off the boots, trying to act calm while secretly jumping up and down for joy in his heart and head. "If you want to sleep there, then, yeah, the more, the merrier."

"Thanks, so, so much." Keith shrugged off his red coat and light gray sweater and flopped onto the other side of the bed in a dark purple t-shirt and black briefs, sighing happily as he was no longer on a couch or cramped car seat. Though Lance would've normally felt like pajamas, given the cold, he settled down in just his sky blue boxer briefs, leaning into Keith's warmth as they wriggled under the blankets and fell fast asleep curled up in ball of tangled limbs.

The next few weeks saw the autumn chill turn early to winter, the Halloween decorations around the neighborhood replaced with a few fake Thanksgiving turkeys and the rise of an empire of plastic Santas and light-up reindeer. Lance continued to do far better in his papers and homework, rarely scoring as high as that first 92 but maintaining consistent B's and C +'s, much to Keith's beaming approval. They continued to study together in the afternoons and evenings, though less and less as Lance gained confidence, allowing Keith to get ahead on his studies, which looked far too complicated for Lance's liking. They continued to go out to movies and tiny cafes, bother one another in the gym and cafeteria, and even got together with other students when an unexpected early blizzard came and they simply had to have a snowball fight on the lawn of Voltron-Tech. Sleeping in bed together and making out/cuddling for as long as they could occurred more and more frequently, and, one night, they got farther than Lance had expected, given Keith's reticence so far.

It was a colder night than usual and yet Keith still refused to wear pajama bottoms, which didn't bother Lance too much when they slept as he liked to stroke Keith's shapely legs from under the knee to the edge of his tight-fitting briefs, while Keith murmured happily. That particular night's cold meant that Lance was closer to Keith than usual as he stroked and touched and cuddled him, and he realized a little too late that his pajama bottoms weren't stopping his hardening cock from pressing into Keith's backside. He tried to move back a bit once he realized he was perhaps getting a bit too close and yet, as he turned, Keith rolled over, a smirk on his face, and began to stroke at Lance's straining bulge.

Lance's eyes widened. "K-Keith..."

"Shh. it's all right, Lance. That did feel nice and all just now but I'm, I'm still not ready for that yet, not fully, and when I am, I think I might like to be the one that tops, at least at first, if you didn't mind..."

"Oh, um, well, all right..." Lance felt his cheeks and ears go hot. He'd wondered about how they would figure that out when they got that far. Lance's one time with a guy so far had been him bottoming and though he'd enjoyed it, slight pain aside, he'd kind of hoped to maybe top at least their first time together. Keith was more experienced, though, so perhaps he should let him.

"Anyway," Keith continued to whisper, stroking Lance's bulge still, "that doesn't mean I can't tell you're almost ready to burst waiting for me. I get it, trust me, I was impatient with my first boyfriend, too, and nowhere near as kind as you've been. Here, just relax while I do a little something to help you in the meanwhile..."

Keith pulled the blankets down a bit so he could see what he was doing a bit better and pulled Lance's pajama bottoms and boxer-briefs down with them. Lance hissed slightly as Keith rubbed his thumb and fingers all over the throbbing head of Lance's cock, gently stroking at first, then moving faster, harder. He ran his deft fingers up and down the shaft, too, stroking and pulling and almost tickling, until Lance's cock was a rock-hard rod in Keith's closed, grasping fist. Lance arched his back and whispered all kinds of mumbled appreciation as Keith continued to pump at him, his big brown cock twitching like mad in the tight grip, moaning a moment later as he came sooner than expected and accidentally spurted all over Keith's hand.

"Oh god, Keith, oh god...that, that felt so, so good...Oh god, oh fuck, I messed up your hand, and the sheets a bit, I'm sorry..."

"They're your sheets, Lance, just toss them aside and wash them tomorrow, I'll grab some new ones in a sec." Keith got up, wiped his hands off, and dragged over a new dark blue top-sheet. "Here we go. So- Did that feel good, Lance? I take it we're better now?"

"Yes, oh fuck, yes." Lance panted a bit as he looked over at Keith's face beside him and smiled stupidly, his body awash with languid pleasure. "So, so much better."

The next couple weeks passed with no follow-up handjobs but Lance didn't care. He was just having a blast being with Keith at all. He continued to show Keith his favorite movies and games and attempt to teach him some basketball at the gym while Keith encouraged Lance to come by the bookstore more often, even if he hadn't landed the coffee-shop job (the manager had heard about Lance's exploits at his failed pizza place job, apparently. The memory of the Pepperoni Disaster didn't leave Lance's mind for a full day.) Though Lance had thought he was the pop-culture nerd of the two, Keith had a surprising few things to show him that he wound up loving-the classic graphic novels of The Sandman (Vol.1-10) and V For Vendetta, fan art for several book series that Lance probably would never be able to get through but loved the sound of anyway, and a sweet, fluffy little web-comic with another adorable same-sex couple called It's Always Raining Here that Lance ate up immediately and wound up binge-reading through in a day. One special night was spent at a concert for a band Lance had never heard of but was apparently popular back in Finland and in Europe-the masters of symphonic metal, Nightwish.

"I bought the tickets months before I knew my money situation would get worse," Keith explained as they awaited the band's arrival on stage, his voice slightly muffled by the ear-plugs they'd bought to protect themselves from excessive noise. "Glad to have someone to watch it with." He nudged at Lance's shoulder and pointed down at the distant stage swallowed by the milling crowd. "When the lead singer, Floor Jansen, comes out on stage, you are allowed to say she's hot exactly once. Any more and I'll get jealous."

"Sure, sure." When Nightwish did appear on stage, their show a masterpiece of sight and sound, a clashing coming-together of thunderous heavy metal, soaring classical and stunning movie-esque flourishes, Lance found it very hard to hold himself to that promise. Being so close with Keith occasionally made him forget the other ladies, a first in his life, but damn, this Jansen woman was one hot and talented singer. They cheered and jumped and shouted through many, many songs, Keith naming them all for Lance's benefit-Dark Chest of Wonders, Ghost Love Score, Storytime, and many more-and Lance found himself wanting to buy their entire discography as soon as possible.

Thanksgiving turned up round the corner soon after the concert's passing (with the dreaded semester finals only a few weeks behind) and Lance suddenly found himself with a problem: he had a boyfriend to bring home to the other side of town for dinner and had yet to introduce him to his parents.

"So. Your family. They big on Thanksgiving?" Keith mumbled over breakfast one morning.

"Not really. It's more of an excuse for Dad to show off his cooking and for Mom to watch football with her sisters than anything major." Lance grinned at Keith's slightly surprised face. "If you can't tell, we're not exactly what you'd call a traditional family."

"Hmm. So I see. Take anyone home for Thanksgiving dinner before?"

"Once, in high school. They liked my girlfriend well enough and I definitely liked her at the time. She, on the other hand, wound up breaking up with me a week later, telling me I was too immature."

"Ouch. She was right at the time, by the way, no offense." Keith took a bite of his cereal and chewed with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well, I don't want to be a bother, Lance, but um, mind if I come? Your aunt certainly seems to like me, so I hope they will, too."

"Um...yeah, sure." Lance's parents knew about his sexuality and said they didn't care, that they loved him all the same, but even so, Lance still felt a little bit of awkwardness at the thought of bringing a boyfriend home. He kind of just wanted Keith all to himself, a selfish feeling that was entirely unfair but one that Lance couldn't ignore. "If, if you want to. The food will be great and I'm sure they'll love you."

Keith leaned over the counter they were eating at and gave him a kiss on the cheek, pulling away with an evil smirk. "Not as much as I love you."

Lance wanted to laugh but found himself blushing as he looked down into his bowl of cereal, slightly worried, and began to babble. "Did...did you just really say that? We've dated almost a month now, so I guess it could be appropriate, I, I don't know, I just usually toss it around casually and I'm not sure if I've told you that yet or if I should..."

Keith rested his hand on Lance's. "Lance, it's ok. You tell me that when you feel its right to tell me that. Like you, I can wait." He turned around to head to the car and gave him another evil smirk. "Though you might not have to wait too much longer if you keep looking that cute when you're flustered..."

A small "Eep!" left Lance's mouth and he had to try hard not to let horny thoughts control him in class that day.

Thanksgiving came and went and Lance relaxed once he saw how much his mother fussed over Keith. Hell, Lance wanted to fuss over Keith, who'd worn a slightly shabby yet altogether sexy black suit, crisp white shirt and red tie to their house-his interview suit, of course. Lance thought it was far too hot for anyone to wear to job interviews but then again, he was rather biased. Lance himself simply wore a blue dress-up shirt and black slacks and felt quite under-dressed in comparison. Keith seemed to like the way he looked, though, judging by his glances and smiles. 

The dinner went well, thanks to his father's cooking skills(which Lance had unfortunately not inherited) and any worries about Lance's family not accepting him and Keith together were soon put behind them. Hell, given how much Lance's grades had improved since he and Keith had gotten together, his parents seemed ready to get the two married off straight away, a conversation that left the both of them red-faced and sputtering. It was hard to look at one another for several minutes as they stuffed turkey and mashed potatoes in their mouth and waited for the conversation to change, which it fortunately soon did. 

When they got back to the apartment, a little bit tipsy from the wine his parents had insisted on them both having at least a glass of, Lance leaned forward, gave keith a huge, sloppy kiss as he stood there looking all hot in his suit, and whispered back at last, "I love you, too, Keith. God, have I fallen for you, you big nerd." Keith chuckled and blushed as he dragged Lance in and made sure his boyfriend got to sleep.

December came at long last and, all in all, Lance couldn't complain as he walked to class one cold winter's day. His life was blissful, his grades were good enough that, if finals went well, he was certain he would pass, and he had an amazing boyfriend who he wished he had discovered earlier in his life. So much would have gone easier for both of them if it had...

A buzz from Lance's pocket alerted him to a sudden text, disturbing his mid-winter walk. Lance pulled out the phone and was surprised to find that Keith of all people had texted him. Normally, his boyfriend waited to tell him stuff in person. Lance hoped it wasn't a cancellation of today's tutoring lesson-possibly the last proper one of the semester, given how close finals were-and was stunned when he saw what the text message actually said.

Tonight. I'm ready. See you later. Love you, too-Keith.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, Chapter 5 is a wrap! That took forever to write but I'm happy with how it turned out, hope you all are, too. Thanks for kudos, comments and kindness, the Klance fandom has been absolutely wonderful to write for. Chapter 6 will hopefully be up tomorrow night, ready and waiting and full of more smutty goodness for everyone who's waited so kindly for it. Thanks again for reading! :)
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: Question: Does anyone else have problems with their fic's updated chapter showing up on the front page of the fandom works? This story hasn't updated for Ch.3 and 5 on the Voltron: Legendary Defender page but has done so on the Voltron: Fandom page, which reduces my hits and potential new readers, sadly. I might just pull that last tag to make sure it updates to the first one if that's the case. If anyone could respond in comments, I'd be happy to hear about it. Thanks! :)
> 
> EDIT 2: Chapterr 6 is now up and ready and full of smutty goodness! Chapter 7 (and possibly 8) will be up later in the week when I have more access to the Internet and hopefully my computer is repaired. Go forth and enjoy Chapter 6! :)


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and thank you for being so patient while I deal with my computer being repaired (a bit awkward typing this on a public computer but oh well.) This is the long-awaited Chapter 6, aka the smutty chapter. After this, there's either one or two more chapters left of this story, I haven't decided, will decide when writing. Thanks for reading/commenting/kudos and enjoying! :)

Lance paced back and forth along the corridors of Voltron-Tech, trying hard to think about his upcoming exams but only thinking about that text from Keith and what it meant. Tonight was going to happen, it was really, really going to happen...Lance assumed other nights like it would follow, of course, and other mornings, maybe some afternoons...but still, though they hadn't really waited that long to get to the sexy part of their relationship, it had felt like an eternity for Lance. And now that he knew what he and Keith would be getting up to later, well, he began to panic a little.

"Oh god oh god oh god," Lance murmured as he meandered, hands shaking and occasionally running through his increasingly messed up mop of dark brown hair. A few students and the occasional professor looked at him funny but otherwise, Lance was left alone with his awkward ambling. Another text from Keith a minute later-two texts, when he despised using them!-made Lance's waiting even more agonizing. Keith had an early evening exam, so Lance would have to make his way home, alone, to sit and wait for Keith to come home. Could the world torment him even more? No, best not to ask that...

"Relax, Lance, relax," he told himself eventually, doing his best to become the smooth, suave guy he always hoped he presented himself as and less of the slightly fumbling dork that he was. "Just go home, get the place ready, make Keith feel welcome and really wanting to make tonight as fun a fuck as possible..."

Despite talking a big game with his previous exes, Lance wasn't actually all that great at doing the whole romantic or seductive aspect of a night of lovemaking-he usually just went straight for the sex. So when he got home, he tidied up, tried figuring out what exactly Keith might like for when he came home, how he should look when his boyfriend got here, etc, etc. His nerves occasionally jumped back at him as he would realize how ridiculous he was acting, but otherwise, he found himself simply growing more excited.

Some time after dark, when Lance was finally ready, the clunky car pulled up in the driveway, signaling Keith's return. A few soft footfalls later and the door opened, as Keith stomped inside, leaving a mild trace of snow on the floor, his short red coat finally replaced with a bigger, bulkier red-and-black striped winter coat instead. Keith headed straight over for the couch, tugging off his coat and boats, grumbling as he set his bag down, then turned around and noticed just what Lance had gotten up to.

"Why, hello there, Keith," Lance said, trying to sound seductive and probably sounding a bit of a loser. He'd placed his finest burgundy bedsheets on the bed, set some of Keith's favorite 80's music to play on the laptop, had grabbed some chocolates and a bottle of wine from his aunt's house (she'd never notice it was gone), and had presented himself in what he hoped was a fetching pose as he lay draped across the bed, dressed only in his open pale blue bathrobe and tight, tiny cherry red Evolve-brand trunk boxer briefs, which were considerably smaller than what he normally wore (and actually surprisingly comfy). Lance gave what he hoped was a sly grin while Keith stared, bug-eyed, and began to make sound that was half-snort, half guffaw.

"Oh my god, Lance," Keith whispered after a minute of staring dumbfounded. "You, you didn't have to do all this...oh my god...sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you, trust me, I am very, very flattered...I just never would have expected you to do, well, this...and the 80's music is a neat touch...." Keith shrugged off his sweater, sat down on the bed, and smiled as he looked at Lance and ran a hand up the bare brown leg. "Got a little anxious waiting for me, did we?"

"Yeah, kind of," Lance sighed, all pretense dropped. Well, he'd tried. "I've just messed up so much in this area before, I wanted to try and do it right this time..."

"Trust me, you're doing fine," Keith said. "Sorry I took so long to get here, too. And if you're wondering why tonight...well, I finally feel safe for the first time in a while and, well, I just realized that you are an amazing guy that I want to be with as much as possible, in as many ways as possible. That, and the stress of finals is killing me and I figured it was killing you, too, and we could both use some relief. Am I right?"

"Fuck yeah, Keith," Lance said with a mild giggle, suddenly finding it difficult to look at Keith. Keith reached a hand over, drew Lance's face back to him, and kissed him softly, once, twice, then some more. Another kiss followed that was long, deep and slow, leaving off with a good, hard dragging nip of Lance's lip. Keith pulled back, grinned, and yanked off the black tank-top he'd been wearing beneath the sweater, revealing those abs and that flat chest and nipples that Lance had ogled many a time since that first overnight study session. Keith reached over to turn the music off on the laptop and returned to Lance with a wicked, wanting gleam in his eyes. He leaned in for another series of wet, hungry kisses and Lance gladly obliged.

"Hmm. Nice underwear, by the way, you look great," Keith muttered as they lay there on the bed, caressing and kissing one another and setting a slow, heated rhythm to the evening. "A bit surprising from you, admittedly..."

"Well, it was either these or the leopard print bikini briefs," Lance said with a smirk. Keith began guffawing again and Lance reassured his boyfriend that he was joking, hoping that Keith never actually looked in his underwear and socks drawer. "I figured you were the skimpy underwear guy around these parts, so I'd do better with something a little more me..."

Their hands began to wander all over as they continued to mash their mouths into one another, slowly dragging fingers and palms bringing warmth to patches of previously unexplored skin, and soon Lance found his hands unbuttoning and unzipping Keith's pants, shoving the offending skinny jeans off of Keith's legs and leaving the dark-haired boy in some tight red-and-blue striped briefs. Keith moaned as Lance's hands moved downward to run across his finely rounded ass and the growing bulges that were both bumping into one another as they rolled around on the burgundy-clad bed, both straining cocks desperate for release. A low growl sounded in Keith's throat as he moved his mouth downwards to Lance's chest and began to lick and kiss at the outline of Lance's pecs, rubbing his face in the small, soft thatch of chest hair in the middle, darting, biting and pinching gently at the hardened nipples until Lance felt ready to explode from the sensitive touch. Lance continued to stroke at Keith's butt, moving his fingers under the tight fabric of his boyfriend's briefs and sighing contentedly as he felt at the firm flesh for the first time, grabbing and groping with both soft and hard pressure.

"This is a nice ass you got down here, all wrapped up for me in stripes like a present," Lance said, moving his hand towards Keith's cock bulge in the front. He tried to sound sexy, realized that he'd always sound at least a little bit goofy, and went with it. Keith seemed to love his goofiness, after all. "Hmm, and it's all stripy up here, too, your cock's like a candy cane...Hmm, Christmas isn't even for another two weeks..."

"Well, you'll get your chance to suck that "candy cane" in a minute," Keith said with a chuckle as he moved his hand down Lance's abs and snagged at the red waistband of the boxer briefs. "Here, we should both get these out of the way..."

"Yes, oh god, yes." Keith and Lance both slid down their undergarments and kicked them off, leaving them both gloriously naked and writhing against one another with great need for the other. Lance's breathing got heavier as he looked down and saw fully for the first time Keith's groin-his black pubic hair fortunately not too thick, his balls massive and hanging low, his cock thick and throbbing with a reddening, engorged head that Lance couldn't believe was going to go up his ass shortly (and likewise couldn't believe fit in the tight and tiny underwear Keith always wore). He decided to refocus on his own pulsing brown cock for the moment, which was impressive enough in his own opinion, and rubbed it up against Keith's pale abs as his boyfriend leaned over him, tracing invisible circles and feeling good vibrations run all along his groinal region and up his spine.

"Hmm," Keith's voice rumbled as he looked down at both of their bodies. "Well, isn't this nice, just how I want things...Know what I want to do next?"

"What?" Lance said, his voice almost a squeaking whisper. He still couldn't believe that they had gotten this far. He wanted more, so much more. This was the young man he'd fallen for, faster and harder than he ever believed, and he wanted the two of them to keep going as long as possible tonight. He'd helped Keith feel safe and loved and now he wanted more than anything for Keith to show him the same things. Even so, he was a little anxious, even now.

"Here, it's best if I just show you." Keith moved around the slightly creaking bed until his body was fully reversed, legs and knees laying by Lance's upper body, his balls, cock and butt hanging out over Lance's face, awaiting attention. Keith lowered his own face down towards Lance's wildly excited cock, stroking at the shaft with his fingers and rubbing his thumb repeatedly over the head's slit, and smiled. "I'm assuming you know about 69-ing, right?'

"Oh fuck, yes," Lance breathed. "Never thought I'd get to do this, though." His eyes automatically darted around the room, feeling as if he shouldn't be seeing this, as if this couldn't possibly be happening to him, his anxieties rising slightly once more. His gaze fell upon the untouched wine and chocolates and he started to laugh nervously. "Oh god, Keith, we never did get to the treats I'd prepared..."

"We'll have them later. Besides, there's a different treat I had in mind." Keith continued to rub Lance's rampant dick but he didn't lower his mouth any further, frowning slightly. "You do want this, right, Lance? I'm not going too fast? I'll stop if that's what you want, I know you're still kind of new to this..."

Lance gasped slightly, the sense of pleasure running up from Keith's hands upon his cock too incredible to describe. "No, you're good, you're good, keep going." Lance reached up to Keith's heavy cock as it dangled in front of his face and likewise began to stroke his boyfriend. "I want you, Keith. I, god I sound stupid, I need you."

Keith grinned as he leaned his lips closer to Lance's cock. "Me, too, Lance. Me, too." Those warm, wet lips settled on Lance's cock at last and Lance nearly yelped. Keith continued to suck at just the head for a full minute, licking and leaving tiny nibbles all over the sensitive flesh, and Lance felt as if he should return the favor, taking the thick tip of Keith's cock into his own mouth. Lance's cock popped out for a second as Keith moaned and arched his back at the initial contact, then began to resume sucking at Lance's cock with renewed vigor, moving beyond the head. Both mouths went up and down both cocks, licking and nibbling at rigid, veiny shafts, switching speeds and directions as they went from gentle movement to hard thrusting into each other. Lance had never felt so good, so hard as Keith actually began to deep-throat him, the slurping noises slightly distracting from an otherwise beyond believable experience. There was no way that Lance could fully take in Keith's length-there was just so much of him-so he let the massive dick slide out of his mouth, leaving behind a slightly salty flavor on his lips, moved his mouth and hands over a bit, and began to lick at and suck Keith's balls instead.

"Lance..." Keith gasped as he removed the wetness of his mouth from Lance's rampant cock. "Oh my god, oh fuck...ahhh..."

"I've got more where that came from." Lance stopped moving the balls into his mouth and struggled to reach his tongue up to Keith's ass instead. Lance gripped greedily at Keith's buttcheeks-they were as great to feel as they were to look at-and he moved his fingers in to spread the flesh apart, revealing a rosy, puckered entrance. Lance darted his fingers in as gently as he could, then began to move his tongue about slowly and gently, ignoring the slight tang he tasted.

"Hnnn. Aah!" Keith moaned. "God, it's been a while since anyone's done that to me...Sure, sure I, ahh, shouldn't be doing that y-you, Lance? I'm the one that's going to fuck you, remember?"

Lance felt his face pulling into a smile even as he moved his mouth, lips and tongues in and all over Keith's ass and tight, sensitive hole. "Oh yeah, I know, you can get to that in a minute. Just let me have fun here, ok? Besides, if you don't mind, I figured we'd have another go tomorrow, once we're all rested from tonight. Me topping this time. You'll have to get used to this touch from me, too."

"Oh yeah? Is that so?" Keith chuckled before moaning again. He stumbled slightly as he was on all fours on a wobbly bed and let Lance have his way with him for a minute, gasping every time Lance's tongue moved further into his hole. Finally, Keith put a hand on Lance's leg and said. "My turn, Lance. If you don't mind."

Lance gulped slightly but said "Yes. Please. There's, there's some condoms and lube on top of the dresser..."

"Hmm, how thoughtful." Keith got off the bed, his heavy cock swinging from side to side as he walked, and then laughed when he saw what Lance had procured. "Quiznak-brand condoms and lube? Where the hell did you get these?"

"There's a sex toy shop a few blocks from here," Lance said, blushing despite everything they'd gotten up to. "I think they're an Eastern European brand or Russian or something."

"Hmm. Well, let's just hope they feel good for you. Ribbed, no less, boy, you did want to make this a memorable night." Keith wandered over, crouched down, and gave Lance a grin. "Ready for this?"

"Yes, more than ready." Lance really didn't know how ready he could be for getting his ass fucked but he thought it was best not to show what bit of anxiety still was in his mostly hormone-flooded system. "Please, Keith..."

"All right, then." Keith moved his face down and Lance let out a half-gasp, half-squeak as he felt Keith's hands push his buttcheeks apart and began to rim him far faster than Lance had done to him. Clearly, Keith was also a little impatient and in need of the other. A tongue and lips up his ass felt incredible and weird at the same time and Lance found himself getting more and more giddy with every burst of sensitivity. The mouth left soon enough and was replaced by long, lubed-up fingers that slid in and out and stretched and stroked and just generally felt awesome. Lance had fingered his asshole while masturbating before and had even had one of his ex-girlfriends do that to him so this was a little more familiar and a lot more good (not that the rimming hadn't been great, just different.)

Soon enough, the fingers slid away, leaving sticky softness, and Keith stood up, moving himself and his cock into position. Lance's breathing grew heavier and his heart pounded faster as he saw his boyfriend's smiling, happy face, so much better than the mask of misery and pain he often wore when they'd first met. Lance couldn't have been happier to have helped someone than he was right then, and not just because he got a great boyfriend and some great sex in return. Lance just felt happy to have made a difference in someone's life as well as his own.

"Ok, Lance," Keith grunted as he stroked his condom-clad cock, moving Lance's legs apart and up as he planned to fuck and face him at the same time. Lance was glad for that, as he wasn't sure he wanted his first time to be from behind-later, perhaps, especially when they just wanted a quick, horny, feel-good fuck. "I hope this feels good for you. I want you to feel really, really good."

"Then get to fucking me," Lance laughed. "I promise I can take it."

"I love you, you know," Keith said with a beaming grin, his face strained and sweaty as he tried to find a good position while squeezing his cock into Lance's tight entrance. Lance bucked and squirmed slightly at the new pressure of a cock up his ass, a sensation felt only once before. "I mean it, I, ah, I love you..."

"Me, me, too," Lance said, crying out as Keith fully slid into him and leaned forward, hands placed down on the bed by Lance's side. "God, do I love you...oh fuck, ahh..."

Keith grunted as he moved in and out, slowly at first, establishing a rhythm, making sure Lance wasn't hurting too much from his massive cock pinning him to the bed, moving inside him. As soon as Keith established a good rhythm of slow, steady fucking, Lance moved his upper body forward as much as he could, reached out to grab Keith's face, and brought his lips down for a kiss. Keith laughed as they parted and did his best to concentrate on moving his cock at greater and greater speeds. Keith's hand flew down to Lance's cock and began to stroke it furiously as he pounded and slammed Lance's ass, balls audibly smacking against buttcheeks, moaning and gasping just as much as Lance did, clenching his teeth after one particularly quick and powerful series of thrusts rammed into his asshole and filled him. The bed shook and creaked as Lance's body slid back and forth on the bedsheets, his whole body feeling on fire, feeling pushed to the brink, filled with so much...well, so much cock, for one, but with so much warmth and languid pleasure and happiness at being touched by someone, at having touched someone. Lance had never known himself to be capable of any of this, of sex as ever being more than just pleasure and fun, and though it was that, it felt so, so much more to him. "Oh fuck, oh fuck," the both muttered as their bodies slammed and rolled into one another, almost a mantra as they gave way unto the other's desperate, needy, wanton flesh.

"I'm going to come, Keith," Lance said after what felt like a century of hard, horny cock sliding in and out of him, his legs spasming as they flailed in mid-air, "I'm going to come. Oh, oh fuck..."

Heat rushed and exploded in Lance's cock as he felt and saw orgasm take over, a flood of white semen erupting out of his cock, all over his groin, all over Keith's hands, a sticky, sweet-feeling ending. Keith, however, was not quite done, and kept pounding away for another minute, eyes closed as he continued to rock and rush their bodies together, sweat slicking and slithering all over. At last, Keith pulled out of his ass, leaving Lance with an instant feeling of emptiness and lack of warmth and yet slight relief all the same. Keith removed the ribbed and bumpy condom, placed his thick shaft into Lance's hand, and began to have his bottoming boyfriend stroke him to completion. They both cried out-one with pleasure, the other with a little laugh-as Keith finally climaxed, erupting all over Lance's hand the way he'd just done to Keith.

Keith collapsed onto Lance's spent, recumbent body, both of them breathing so heavily that their raspy noises filled the room, both of them grinning and chuckling like fools as they looked at one another, pleasure and passion still rife in their eyes. Keith pulled himself up slightly more, moving the rest of his sweaty, tired body onto the other side of the bed, and leaned in towards Lance for another set of deep, desperate kisses, each savoring the taste of each other, even if some of the taste came from elsewhere upon them. As they pulled their faces apart, Keith asked Lance, "Are you all right? Did, did that go as you hoped? Did it feel good at all?"

"Oh, yeah, man, beyond good. You were amazing, Keith. A little rough at first but, but I don't know, I think I kind of liked it that way." Lance looked up at the ceiling and sighed and chuckled at the same time. "Oh man, Keith, you would've been so much popular in high school if people knew you could do that..."

Keith snorted and gently punched Lance in the shoulder. "Shut up, you big dork."

"Hmm. You know, I am so going to return the favor tomorrow."

"I think I want you to return the favor," Keith said, groaning as he rolled over a bit. Lance groaned as well as he moved, his sides and ass aching, though it was a good, lingering ache. "So, what say we have ourselves a shower and clean this all up, gobble down that wine and chocolate you were so kind to provide and call it a night?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lance laughed. They both leapt off the bed, shoving and touching one another with wild abandon, and hopped into the warmth of the shower and the warmth of each other's arms, happy that they had found the other despite everything that life had thrown at each of them.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, everyone, that's a wrap on this chapter! Hope it was a good smutty read and not too short and that you'll all stick around for the next and possibly last chapter (which will have a bit more smut, we need that next-morning scene where Lance gets to top, after all.) It might be a bit due to my computer access troubles at the moment but I hope to have it up soon. Thanks to everyone for reading/commenting/and liking this fic! You guys have all been great! :)


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! And thank you so much for being patient in waiting for this chapter's arrival! I had major computer issues that required a trip to the repair shop and finally got it back all shiny and new, do not worry, this fic has not been abandoned. I have decided that Chapter 8 is very likely to be the last one, unless I think of enough fun stuff to keep it going through a 9th chapter. This one has more smutty and fluffy shenanigans for this particular iteration of the Klance ship, so enjoy! :)

Several hours later, Lance tossed and turned in his sleep, restless, wanting. Horny, oh so horny. He and Keith had gotten up to a good bit more that night, oh had they ever, and yet, he still wasn't satisfied. It had been so long since he'd been with another person in this way-well, it felt like forever, anyway-and he hadn't cared about any other romantic partners as he had Keith. True, his own stupid horniness had been what made him first think of Keith as anything more than some nerd he used to casually disdain, but they'd moved far, far beyond that now, through friendship and bonding and kindness and understanding into an actual relationship. Even so, now that they had grown more intimate in the physical sense, Lance didn't want it to stop. He just hoped his own needs and wants and tendency towards selfishness didn't ruin what they had started.

Half-awake after constant rolling about, Lance groaned as he looked at the clock-3:30 am-moved back to the center of the bed and moved his body closer to Keith's. Despite the winter chill outside-or possibly because of it-they had huddled naked together under the blankets, too tired to put back any clothes after their earlier romp of rutting. Lance softly ran his fingers up Keith's spine and shuddered himself as he felt an almost tingling sensation leap into his limbs. His breathing, which had moved to the slow, steady rhythm of sleep, grew heavier and heavier as he leaned into Keith's backside, basking in his body heat. Lance rested his head in the crook between Keith's neck and shoulder and sighed contentedly. After a minute, Keith began to squirm slightly and Lance let out a little moan as Keith rubbed his bare butt up against Lance's growing cock, the soft little hairs around the cleft of the cheeks gently sending all sorts of sensations into the swelling head. Lance gulped a bit and wondered if he should roll around and face the other way. He did just want to cuddle, after all, really, though his brain and his groin were telling him otherwise. And yet, Lance couldn't help but want to try and see if more could come about...

Lance grabbed at the base of his cock, now nearly as stiff as it had been during their earlier fucking, and lazily rubbed it up and down the smooth surface of Keith's round, firm buttcheeks, stroking a hand softly down his boyfriend's back. Keith murmured in his sleep as Lance nestled closer, leaning in to nuzzle at Keith's ear and neck. Keith let out a little gasp, raised a hand to rub at his eyes and brush the bangs of his thick black hair out of his face, and smirked as he woke up and saw his boyfriend's rather friendly attempts to wake him up.

"Hmm. Seems like someone couldn't sleep, huh?" Keith reached a hand behind him and grabbed at Lance's thick brown cock, eliciting a moan from his boyfriend. "Well, I can't now, either, not with you all up and at attention. You really want another go, Lance? We jerked each other off in the shower, I gave you head and then fucked you again. If you really want some more, though, I won't complain..."

Lance placed a hand on Keith's chest, still surprised at the feeling of warmth flowing beneath the skin. "Um, yeah, I kind of do want more, only, well, I want you, if you didn't mind..."

Keith's sleepy eyes widened. "Ready for that, are you? I thought you wanted to wait until morning."

"It is morning. Earlier than I anticipated but, well, plans change all the time. I mean, I certainly didn't plan on having a long-haired nerd with a great smile and a greater ass as a boyfriend but look where I ended up..."

"And I didn't plan on having my obnoxious doofus of a boyfriend fuck me up the ass tonight but I guess that's going to change, too," Keith said with a sigh. Lance began to back off, worried he'd upset him, but Keith grabbed his wrist. "Look, Lance, sorry if I've been a little reticent to let you, well, top when we have sex. My last boyfriend, well, he was a jerk and we were only together because it was hard to find other gay guys at the high school and we were both horny, so we fucked an awful lot. And that was kind of the extent of our relationship, nothing like we got. And, well, he used me, a lot, never wanted to play fair or return favors or anything. He topped me pretty much every time and I kind of got sick of it for a little while. He never reciprocated and whenever I brought up the issue, he'd get nasty and more than a little rough, which is why we broke up eventually. Well, that and he wouldn't help pay rent on the old apartment, the fucking squatter."

"God, your life just sucks something awful sometimes, doesn't it?" Lance sighed and rolled over, cock still standing straight up in the air, having not received the melancholy message from his brain. "I wish I'd known all of this and had been a better person in the past so I wouldn't have been just another asshole to you, that maybe I could've helped make your life a little better."

"Lance, what matters to me is that you're here now to make my life better when I really need it." Keith had rolled his body over so he could face Lance and gave him a stupid sleepy smile. He yawned, rolled his shoulders and neck about a bit so they made slight cracking noises, and got up off the bed to stretch, showing off those shoulder blades and lean, lithe muscles and fine ass Lance loved to admire. Keith got back on the bed, only this time, instead of laying down, he positioned himself on the bed on all fours and gave Lance a very welcoming smile. "Well, come on then, Lance. You gonna fuck me or what? Haven't you wanted to do this for a while?"

"Wait, what? Aren't you tired or weren't you all upset-"

"That stuff is all behind me, Lance, and I don't want it to make things difficult between us when I care about you and I don't care about them any more. What matters to me now is that you're here and that you want me and I want you. So come on, this ass isn't going to wait all night." Keith rolled his hips and wriggled his butt slightly, his half-erect penis and balls wriggling with it. Lance cracked up at the sight, though his softening dick stirred and hardened once more, and he got up and grabbed the lube, reaching over to give Keith's ass a good, hard smack. Keith moaned and grinned as Lance smacked it a few more times for good measure, loving the feel of the flesh beneath his hands as he squeezed and kneaded.

"Someone's eager," Keith chuckled as he looked over his shoulder at Lance's lube-slicked erection. "Hope you don't mind doing me from behind, Lance, it's how I'm used to it. That and I figured it'd help-aren't you still really new to this??"

"Yep. Haven't been in the giving position before," Lance sighed. "None of my girlfriends wanted to try anything anal-though one of them didn't mind fingering me when I asked-and that guy I was with didn't feel like letting me do him, either. Well, there's a first time for everything." Lance leaned forward to kiss at Keith's neck-softly at first, then harder, nipping at the flesh in a way that made Keith moan-before bringing a trail of kisses down the spine, settling at the buttcheeks so he could give them a good, hard bite. Keith yelped several times as Lance was perhaps a bit rougher than he'd meant to be at first, eventually pulling them apart to let his tongue in to rim his boyfriend for the second time that night.

"God, Lance," Keith breathed, "you really get into that, don't you? No, ah, no need to rim me every time you know, hnn, sure it gets tiring for your, heh, your tongue..."

"I know," Lance said as he pulled back, grinning evilly even though Keith couldn't see his face. "Just have to prove that I was right all those years ago about you having a head up your ass. Guess I was just wrong about whose head it was."

"Fuck you," Keith said with a little laugh and groan as Lance rubbed more lube on his fingers and plunged them into Keith's ass, moving in and out and stretching the tight entrance at a quicker speed than Keith had done with him. Keith was more used to this, after all.

"No, fuck you," Lance quipped back, "which I'm going to do right now." Lance stood up as he stroked his hardness, ready to position his cock into Keith's ass, before realizing he didn't have a condom. "Ah shit, where'd the Quiznaks go...?"

"I don't know and I don't care right now," Keith moaned. "I've been safe before and so have you, right? We'll just be better about that next time. And I suspect we don't have to worry about problems with others, right?"

"Pfft. Not unless you know anyone else kinky enough for a threesome, man," Lance laughed. He'd be up for one any time, of course, with another man or a woman, whatever, though he didn't want to bring that up. He only had eyes for Keith, for one, and he hated giving into that stupid stereotype about all bisexual people wanting threesomes. It was only an idle curious thought, anyway. "Well, ok, Keith, you're the boss here..."

"Damn straight I am. Now, fuck me, please, now." Lance obliged happily and moved forward, pressing his cock head into the widening entrance of Keith's anus as gently and swiftly as he could. Lance let out a little pleasure moan of his own as his flesh moved into Keith's, his boyfriend's butt quivering and his hips rocking back and forth slowly as Lance established his pace and rhythm. They both hissed as Lance went a little too fast and popped out, forcing him to spend a minute or two to gain re-entry. Pretty soon, though, he began to move his body in a way that made Keith pant with every thrust, and soon, they began to well and truly fuck. Lance felt so good, so wonderful as he pounded his boyfriend's ass, grabbing at Keith's shoulders and, at one point, his hair, to help steady himself as he grew lost in the fabulous fucking. Lance kept trying to look down to see what it was like as he slid his cock into Keith's asshole, curious as to how his dangling balls and the base of his shaft looked when so close to Keith's throbbing, unattended member, and eventually decided on reaching around to help jerk off Keith instead.

"Yes, yes, keep touching me like that," Keith spat out from between clenched teeth. Both of them were sweating now as they leaned into each other, lithe brown-skinned limbs straining against pale, tautly slender muscles. "Fuck, oh fuck, that's good. Your fingers are magic, your cock's so filling. Harder, Lance, harder, ahhh!"

"Sure thing, Keith," Lance grunted as he continued to pound and slam away into Keith's butt, his fingers growing sore as they strained to rub up and down all of Keith's thick and massive shaft as it filled his hand. He rubbed his fingers hard against the engorged head of Keith's dick and felt the slit grow wet and sticky. "Seems, ah, seems like you're going to come soon..."

"Not until you come first," Keith grunted. "Keep going, keep doing me, don't stop. Hnn!" Lance started pounding away harder, the sound of skin against skin and tightening testicles smacking into buttcheeks growing louder and sharper with each successive thrust. Their chests both heaved and grew tighter as Lance stretched his neck out and pulled Keith's face towards him for a kiss, their faces both growing redder. Keith began to moan and gasp mid-kiss as his huge cock could take no more and spilled its load all over the tight grip of Lance's hand. Lance readied himself to move away and pull out, triumphant, and yet, before he could, he cried out himself as he felt a great surge of heat rush up through his cock, ejaculating his seed all up into Keith's ass. Keith moaned more as he flopped forward onto the bed and Lance did his best to pull out as quick as possible, leaving a sticky mess all over Keith's ass. They fell atop one another again, even messier than they'd been during their first few times, and gave each other deliriously delighted looks as they rolled apart, spent bodies, cocks and limbs almost flopping like fish.

"That, that was amazing," Keith breathed, flicking his sweat-slicked hair out of his eyes so he could give Lance a good, hard look. "A bit quicker than I expected but I shouldn't, uhh, be surprised, given you hadn't, uh, topped before..."

"Quick was I? I'll show you quick." Lance reached a hand over with lightning speed and gently tugged and twisted one of Keith's nipples, causing his boyfriend to laugh and squirm as he lay on his side. "You bet I was amazing..."

They lay there for several minutes, nearly tempted to fall asleep together again but too sticky and sore to do so. Eventually, they went and washed up once more and fell asleep in each other's arms, glad for some relief from the stress of the season for at least one night. 

Of course, as the winter season progressed towards the semester's end and that crowning glory of consumerism, Christmas, they found many other times in which to give the other stress relief.

The next Saturday, for instance, saw Keith have to work a double-shift at the mall's bookstore. Lance, who still didn't have a job, seasonal or otherwise, decided that this simply wouldn't do. So, when Keith least expected it, Lance rode down on the bus, slipped into the store when Keith wasn't looking, made his way through the crowded throng, and settled in the backroom, hoping neither manager or camera saw him enter. He'd been back there before, seeing as everyone knew he was Keith's boyfriend now, but still, he didn't want to draw any attention. Lance was just happy there was no surveillance in the backroom, given what he was planning.

Some time a short while later, the backroom door opened and Keith slowly walked in, sighing and sounding miserable. Overworked face aside, though, Lance couldn't help but admire how hot his boyfriend looked in his bookstore nerd get-up, his driving glasses, blue-black sweater and slacks going well with the long black hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Keith turned about and startled when he saw Lance standing by a shelf overflowing with unwrapped books, a grin splitting his face.

"L-Lance! You shouldn't be back here!" He licked his lips and tried to speak a bit quieter. "Well, um, can't say I'm upset to see you but I'm certainly surprised..."

"Shh." Lance put a finger to Keith's lips, leaned in for a quick kiss, then stepped back and smiled even harder. "I couldn't just let you work a double-shift all day by yourself, Keith, not when I've been thinking about you all damn day, working your butt off to please stupid customers who don't even know a good book when it bites them."

"Lance," Keith sighed. "You really should be home studying."

"So should you! You have a few final exams left, too!"

"Yes, but I also have to work, and I need to earn enough money to save up for the future as well as helping us both out." Lance had insisted that Keith didn't need to pay his own way for now but Keith wouldn't listen. "Look, Lance, I'm incredibly happy to see you, believe me, today has been a nightmare. Look, I have a break in a little while, want to meet me for pizza then?"

"Sure. But first, a little stress relief session." Lance moved Keith up against the wall in a space between two massive piles of books, kissing him like it was the end of the world. Keith made a small squeak before melting into Lance's arms, moving his own hands behind Lance's neck, sighing and grunting as Lance moved his tongue, teeth and lips down to nibble and nip at Keith's neck. All was well for a second until Lance's fingers moved down to unbuckle the studded belt and unzip Keith's pants. Keith stiffened in his back as well as his cock and moved back a bit.

"Whoa, Lance..."

"Not going to do too much," Lance assured him. "Just a quickie to help you out in these trying times. Doubt they'll even notice you're gone." Lance crouched down on the ground and shifted Keith's slacks and underwear down to his knees, releasing the rigid, rampant cock and moving his face towards it. "Besides, no one will see me behind all these books. And if anyone does ask, well, just say your belt unwound and your pants fell down right as you tripped and your cock just accidentally fell into my mouth..."

Keith sighed, ran a hand through his mulleted moptop, looked about in case anyone else were waiting in the backroom, then nodded his assent. "Do it quickly, then, Lance," Keith hissed out from between clenched teeth, his slightly panicked face glancing over at the door to the backroom. "Oh god, if we get caught, oh god...I am so paying you back for this, you know...I want this, oh god, I do, but I am so, so fucked if we get caught..."

"Uh-huh." Lance waved a hand and used his other to draw Keith's giant cock into his mouth, determined to give his boyfriend the best blowjob he'd ever received, no matter how long it took. Keith's body shuddered and his legs buckled slightly as Lance bobbed his head up and down, taking the full length of Keith into him despite its size, glad he didn't gag as the massive head reached the back of his mouth. He swirled his tongue about the sensitive head and rubbed his teeth softly around the thick girth of the cock, causing little strangling squeaks and squeals of pleasure to leave Keith's throat, amusing and arousing Lance all the while. At one point, the doorknob turned, causing Keith's face to go white as a sheet, but no one fortunately came in. After what felt like a century of dread and hard thrusting into Lance's mouth, Keith finally came, an eruption that Lance did his best not to gag at as he swallowed much of it, making the mess easier to clean. The taste was salty and not too bad; the texture, on the other hand...Next time, Lance would definitely re-think that part.

"I am so, so getting you back for all the worrying you made me do," Keith breathed as he cleaned himself up, pulled his pants back up, and did his best to re-assume his composure for the sales floor. He gave Lance an evil smirk. "Oh yes, I know when and where..."

Lance rubbed a stray speck of semen off of the corner of his mouth and frowned. Oh god, what did Keith have planned?

A few days later, after the stress of finals was over and there was but the stress of waiting for grades, Lance found out exactly what his boyfriend had planned.

Lance's parents had invited them over to help decorate the house for Christmas and, with classes over for a few weeks and their official tutoring sessions done for now, the two boys gladly obliged. Thick ropes of colorful garland and maddeningly blinking Christmas lights made their way up and down the house's exterior and interior. Giant crumbling cardboard boxes full of tacky old winter decor and bright, burnished ornaments made their way up from the cramped confines of the dimly-lit basement. Lance groaned and suffered as his mother kept dragging Keith aside so they could laugh at "adorable" baby and toddler pictures of Lance, fortunately none of them too embarrassing. As the daylight began to die and the last coat of tinsel and gilded baubles had made their way upon the fat fir tree in the living room, Lance made his way up to his old bedroom, hoping to find some comics or games he'd left lying around to bring home with him after they all ate dinner. When he opened the door, he was startled to find Keith laying on his bed, propped up on his elbow, a smirk upon his face and an eyebrow raised in a very suggestive manner.

Lance's thoughts immediately turned to the surprise blowjob he'd given at the bookstore the other day. "Oh god, Keith, here?"

"Sure, why not? A bedroom's more appropriate than a bookstore's backroom, after all."

"Yeah, but this is, you know, my childhood bedroom. In the house where my parents live. Where they very much happen to be downstairs and likely in earshot."

"Don't tell me you and your ex-girlfriends or that one mysterious guy of yours never did it here," Keith said with a little laugh, getting up and heading over to give Lance a hungry, demanding kiss. Lance welcomed the warmth though his brain told him that this would lead only to trouble.

"No, we didn't," Lance breathed as he pulled away from his boyfriend, his lips and loins desperate for more. He had always wanted to fuck someone in here, though. "I had more sense than you, apparently."

"You owe me, Lance," Keith said, his voice a low rumble. He crooked a finger as he sat down on the bed and Lance gulped slightly. Damn, Keith looked really, really hot right then. Lance couldn't help himself and moved forward, his motion slightly stilted from worry and the massive boner popping a tent in his jeans. Their mouths mashed together as they rolled about on the bed, hands roaming and running up and down their bodies beneath their shirts and down into their pants. Keith nipped at Lance's neck and whispered into his ears, "Don't worry, I'll be quick, just like you were the other day. You have some lotion or lube in here, right?'

Lance nodded. "Yeah, I think there's still a bottle in the upper drawer dresser. I may not have fucked anyone in here before but I did jerk off plenty enough."

"I'm sure you did," Keith chuckled as he searched about and did indeed find some lotion. "Well, first time for everything, Lance. We're going to fuck, fast and hard, right here in your old room. Consider it one more lesson from your tutor, this time a lesson in discretion. They'll never know what we got up to in here."

"I hope so. The walls are a bit thin."

"That's why you're going to be as quiet as possible." Keith brought over a tie and stretched it a bit. "This would help keep you quiet, right?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. Damn, you're getting a bit kinky...."

"What can I say? I need to feel safe with someone before I can do anything like this." Lance did see that Keith was indeed trembling slightly, which made him feel a good bit better about what they were going to do. "Besides, you do talk too much unless I've got my cock in your mouth and I plan on fucking you instead. If you're all right with that." Keith paused. "If you're really, really not wanting this, Lance, I will stop, I just thought that I should return the favor from the other day..."

Lance gulped. "N-no, I do want this. If my parents find out, though, this is all your fault..."

"Fine by me." Keith stuffed the tie into Lance's mouth, wrapped the loose ends around the back of his head, and made a loose knot that allowed Lance to breathe but definitely muffled him. Keith pulled out a condom from his pockets, dragged down his black skinny jeans and black-and-gray striped briefs, then reached over and yanked Lance's jeans down, laughing when he saw the ridiculous green-and-blue UFO-print boxers he was wearing. He smacked Lance's ass several times, squeezing the cheeks so hard that Lance let out a muffled yelp, then began to apply lotion-covered fingers with such speed that Lance almost wanted to scream. He bit into the tie instead and gripped the bedsheets instead. Outside the shut and locked bedroom door, he thought he heard footsteps, but no knock was forthcoming.

"Ok, Lance, here I come." Keith moved his thick, hard, lotion-slick, condom-clad cock into Lance's tight asshole and thrust faster than he ever had before, grabbing at Lance's shoulders with such a tight grip it felt almost they'd pop out if he let go. Lance knew he had mentioned liking it a little rough but this was nearly at his limit. He didn't mind, though, as he knew Keith would never push him any further than he felt safe being done to himself. On and on Keith thrust and pounded away, letting out moan after moan while Lance whimpered with a tie in his mouth, his cock and balls swinging madly about from the movement behind them, until both of them were both ready to explode. They climaxed quicker than either would have suspected-out of necessity, but also out of a great need for quick, powerful release after all that timorous tension-and Lance gulped for air as the tie fell out of his mouth and he ran his hand down to his warm, still half-erect cock, amazed at how much he had come.

Keith lay on the other side of the bed, his face a bright beet red, his own cock and balls glistening with sweat and semen. A stuttering laugh erupted from his mouth and he looked over and smiled again. "God, Lance, I, I just thought of all those stupid projects we worked on in this room all those years ago. I don't know why when all I want to think about is fucking but that's all that popped into my mind. Imagine if, if, ahh, if we'd just done this instead, to kill the boredom, huh? To kill all the stress over grades. If we had been even friends back then, I would have been so happy and yet, I don't think I'd have wanted this to happen any other way then it did. I am so, so fucking glad I've got you right now. I don't know if I could cope with everything that's happened lately without you. I, I just wanted you to know."

Lance nearly felt like giggling, so giddy was he. "Yeah, Keith, I know, I know." He sighed happily. "The stress will come and go, soon enough, I promise. And then there'll be Christmas and a new semester and, and new stuff for both of us. But we'll both still be here together."

"Yeah," Keith sighed happily as he struggled to clean them both up and hike up their pants, glad that neither parent had come to bang loudly upon the door, "yeah, we're together, all right."

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, that's a wrap on Chapter 7! One more chapter to go, hope that was fun, fluffy, smutty goodness for everyone! Thanks for continuing to read, comment, give kudos and support, you've all been such great readers! :)
> 
> EDIT: Chapter 8, the final chapter of this fic, is now up. Go ahead and read/enjoy! :)


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and thank you so very much for reading! This is the 8th and final chapter of this fic and I'm so happy so many people have enjoyed it and left kind comments and kudos and even a nice fan art sketch in the comments of the last section, posted to tumblr-speaking of which, I now have a tumblr again at DarkLord99Blog, where so far its mostly reblogged Klance fan art and a few other things reblogged, I haven't had time to set it up properly but would love other people to follow/follow back if anyone's interested! Anyway, here we go, last chapter for these two-however, I very much will likely write a sequel fic to this story sometime in the near future for anyone who wishes for more of this particular AU version of Klance. Thanks again and enjoy the last chapter of this story!

Christmas Eve had arrived at last and not a single creature was stirring that dark morning-except for Lance.

It was 4:00 am and he couldn't sleep a wink. Apparently, some evil bastard at Voltron-Tech had decided that the final grades for the fall semester would be posted today of all days, though Lance had no idea when exactly, just early. He was certain that, thanks to Keith's help and his own hard work, he would pass each and every class, so that didn't bother him. However, Lance was really, really hoping for actual good grades, better than he'd gotten in years. Not just to please his parents, not just for himself, but to show Keith he had taken to heart just how important his help and belief in his ability to be a better student was. Lance not only would have never made it this far without Keith, he wouldn't have really cared one way or another. Funny how much had changed in a couple of months for Lance's life and much of it because of that mop-topped nerd. Lance no longer felt like wandering through life as an aimless goof-off as he'd spent most of his years doing. He didn't know exactly what it was he wanted to do but he knew he wanted to do something more and if Keith continued to be with him, well, he was sure he could actually achieve something in his life.

About 6:00 am, Lance could no longer stand his grade anxiety and got out of bed, draping his pale blue bathrobe over his gray t-shirt and green boxer briefs, shivering slightly despite the garage apartment's insulation being pretty decent. He ran a hand up and down Keth's warm, shirtless back as his boyfriend slept, marveling at how he could sleep completely naked in this weather even with a million blankets and pillows on top. Careful not to wake the snoring, tired guy-Keith was working at the mall bookstore practically all the time in the lead-up towards Christmas, he'd finally be able to rest once New Year's came around-Lance tiptoed towards the couch and his laptop, wincing every time a floorboard creaked beneath his feet. He stretched, yawned, turned on the dimmest light in the apartment, booted up the laptop and went through a million different passwords and pages to get to what he needed to see. "Come on, come on," he grunted at the buffering circles, wishing the wi-fi would work better out here. "Fucking Comcast..."

The page finally showed and Lance almost knocked over his collection of framed movie posters off the wall with his excited, ecstatic jump. Somehow, he had managed to go from nearly all F's at the beginning of the year to getting all B-'s, even in Professor Shiro's impossibly difficult math class. Hell, he'd gotten a B+ in the Art History class, which had gone from being Lance's least favorite to the one he missed the most now that the semester was over. All that aside, he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. Lance had not only passed, he was on the fucking honor roll. By a hair, but still, it counted. Oh god, did it count.

The calendar assured him that Christmas was tomorrow yet Lance felt like it had already come, between the thin white curtain of snow outside, the tiny artificial tree and tiny pile of presents in the corner and the best grades Lance had ever seen in his life sitting before him. Lance didn't know what to do, what to say. He wanted to scream out loud and dance for joy, rush out into the snow and pelt snowballs at someone, do anything other than wait here in the dark of an early winter morning and not share anything.

Lance crawled back into bed, determined to try and get a bit more sleep until Keith was ready to wake up. His jittery limbs and nervous energy must have been too much for his sleeping boyfriend to handle, though, for several minutes later, Keith rolled over, yawned, cracked open his eyes and gave Lance a sleepy smile. "What are you so excited about, Lance? Christmas is tomorrow, remember?"

"God, Lance, that's not why, I'm not a little kid, you know."

"Hmm, no, you're definitely not that." Keith sat up slowly, stretched his slenderly muscled arms over his head, and let out an almost bestial-sounding yawn, practically a lion's roar. "Take it you didn't have a particularly vivid dream about the two of us, did you? Like the other night-"

"No, not that, either," Lance said, turning his head away so Keith couldn't see him blush. Despite the fact that they'd been going at each other like rabbits practically every night-hell, and afternoon, and one or two mornings-the past couple weeks, Lance still felt all flustered whenever Keith talked about what they did and gave him that particular look, the one that made him feel as if he were melting. "Go check out the laptop, I left it up. Wait till you see what's come up."

Keith raised a questioning eyebrow, shrugged, then got out of bed, grabbing his black briefs and brick-red sweatpants off of the floor and tugging them on, his little struggling half-dance amusing and arousing to Lance given how his bare butt wriggled as he got dressed. His boyfriend shambled over to the couch, sat down, and instantly woke up the moment he read what was posted on the screen. Keith gave him a bug-eyed look and Lance nodded happily in return, trying to make sure his face was suave and smooth and not at all completely amazed or astounded whatsoever.

"Lance, you're officially one of us nerds now," Keith said quietly. "And I'm a fucking miracle worker. I never expected this to happen, well, I hoped it would, after all, as a tutor, I want anyone I help to do well and you in particular but even so...oh my fucking god...fucking honor roll...you made fucking honor roll."

"I know, right?" Lance cackled with glee, kicking his legs in the air almost like they were going at one another again. Keith tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling in disbelief while Lance popped out of the bed and wandered over, placing his hand on Keith's bare shoulder. "I think my mom's going to have to get you a bigger present when she sees this, there's still a little time left for her..."

Keith swore and looked up at Lance's beaming face, his eyes wide and wobbly. "Your parents aren't actually getting me anything, are they, Lance? You've all already done so much for me!"

"Come on, Keith, it's Christmas, just accept it," Lance sighed, sitting down beside him on the couch. "I got you a few things, too, obviously, and it looks like you even got me something, which I didn't expect at all or need but I'll appreciate it all the same. You're family now, whether you like it or not, which means you get to go through all the same embarrassing gift-giving rituals the rest of us do. We're not really religious, if you're worried about that, no midnight masses for us or anything, we just like doing festive Christmas things and getting stuff for one another, it's what you do this time of year..."

"My family wasn't much different in that regard, either. That's a relief, at least," he sighed, eyes downcast. "Even so, I just don't know what to say...you've all shown me too much kindness by far and you of all people have changed far more than I'd ever expect...and all for me?" Keith's lip trembled slightly, his slightly sleepy, slightly stoic expression nearly ready to crack. "My life doesn't work like that, this much good does not turn up all at once, not for me, not because of me, it just doesn't. I still feel like I'm sleeping and any moment now I'll wake up in my car and it'll be back in October and nothing will have changed. It will all have been a dream."

With a sinister smirk, Lance reached over and sharply tugged at one of Keith's nipples, causing him to gasp. "See, Keith? You felt that, right? You're really here, you're not dreaming."

"Oh, we're playing that game, are we?" Keith lunged over from his side of the couch and Lance let a little laughing yelp escape his throat as they fell to the floor, wrestling and scuffling and laughing as they grabbed at one another and turned each other around, bumping into furniture as they pinned each other to the floorboards. The scuffling and fake-fighting stopped after a moment, Keith laying on top of Lance, Lance's hands pressed up against Keith's bare chest while Keith's hands were holding Lance's arms tight against the wooden surface beneath them, both of them breathing deeply as they looked into one another's eyes. Keith cracked a grin, leaned down, and gave Lance what had to be the deepest, warmest, most meaningful kiss he'd ever received from his boyfriend. And that was saying something 'cause Keith was a hell of a kisser.

Keith pulled his head back after a minute that Lance never wanted to end, black bangs drooping over his eyes. He looked so happy, so peaceful at last, and yet, Lance saw tiny tears well in the corners of his eyes again. Lance hadn't seen Keith cry since that night he'd told him all his troubles, and even then, it hadn't been full-on tears, just the start of them. Keith wiped them away, got up, and stood by the windows, arms clasped behind his bare back as he gazed upon the white and wintry streets outside, barely lit by flickering streetlights ready to turn off soon for the fall of morning.

"You've given me more than I could have ever asked for and still you keep doing more, Lance," Keith said at last. "God, I don't deserve you."

"More like I don't deserve you," Lance sighed as he picked himself up off the floor, walked over to Keith and placed his hands on his boyfriend's shoulders again. "Of course, whether we deserve each other or not is debatable. But we're what we've got and that's good enough for me. Now, come on, please just enjoy that you have given me something great as good grades for once in my life and celebrate a little, huh? You haven't even checked yours out yet, now have you?'

Keith chuckled softly as he headed towards the couch and the laptop. "Gee, wonder what grades I got? I've been maintaining A's for years with two B's since tenth grade. Hell, if my money situation had been any better I'd have been at a far more prestigious college than Voltron-Tech." Keith turned and smiled at Lance as he sat down and switched the website log-in to his student ID. "Mind you, I'm glad I went to Voltron-Tech, the college has a great student body..."

"This student's body would love to celebrate with you after you're done reading, if you know what I mean," Lance said as he draped his upper body all over Keith from behind the couch, light brown hands standing out against Keith's pale skin in the glow of the laptop screen. Keith rolled his dark eyes like the buffering circles and snorted out a laugh.

"Too tired for that this morning, I'm afraid," Keith sighed, rubbing at his backside and wincing a little, "especially after last night's "excitement". And I've got to be at the mall all day. How's tomorrow morning sound? We can unwrap our presents today and unwrap each other on Christmas instead."

"Two days in a row of playing with some favorite toys, huh? You have a wicked, wicked mind, Keith. I think I like it." Lance nibbled at Keith's ear and Keith swatted him away with a lightning-fast hand as his grades popped up.

"Ha, just like I told you, Lance. All A's, even with everything that's been going on."

"Hmm," Lance grunted, still mildly jealous, "of course you did. Well, can't say I envy you. You're one of the smartest people I know but I see the way you work, you earn each and every one of those A's. I was too blind to notice that back in high school, always figured you were just a geeky, goody-goody know-it-all brat."

"Of course you thought that way. That's because you rarely actually showed to our study groups or projects meetings and let me do all the work. Glad you've changed that. And I hope you keep it up." Keith looked up at Lance as he walked over to the coffee pot and got it ready, brushing aside some dirty laundry that had accumulated on the counter where it didn't belong. "Now that you're one of us honor roll geeks, you won't be required to have a tutor any more for the next semester."

"I could still use one, though," Lance muttered as he struggled to open the newest bag of coffee-French Vanilla, Keith's favorite. "I am still new to this whole thing, after all, and I'm sure you still have so much to teach me."

"Well, we could always register to take a couple courses together. I'm still not finished my Gen Ed requirements, after all."

Lance perked up. He'd been a bit worried about them having less time together as their tutoring sessions came to an end and here was a solution so obvious that of course he hadn't thought of it. "I haven't registered for next semester yet, there's still time to do that. Keith, you're amazing! As always, I might add. You get the first cup of coffee for that fantastic thinking of yours."

"Um, thanks?" Keith said. "Just a suggestion, nothing remotely amazing about it..."

"Well, it is to me and if you hadn't noticed by now, I love being super-excited over all sorts of things." Lance waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Keith placed his face in his hands, too embarrassed, too done to be dealing with his ridiculous boyfriend this early in the morning. 'What's that word you used the other day? Oh, yeah. I fucking love hyperbole. I am super-hyperbolic about all things and you better get used to it, man!"

"Sometimes I question my taste in men," Keith sighed as Lance came over a minute later with a cup of coffee with a light amount of creamer stirred in, kicking away an idle textbook on the floor. He smiled at Lance as he sipped at the still piping-hot coffee. "Hmm. Sometimes, but not most of the time. You are one of a kind, Lance."

"You better believe it, man." Lance felt like he should saying something in return, something more important, more profound, to show his affection for the young man who'd turned his life around. He knew that Keith knew how he felt, though, that they were comfortable enough with one another now that they didn't always have to be on, didn't always have to perform for the other or say the right things all the time, so he left it at that for now. "Here, why don't we open those presents like you said and have some breakfast before you have to head out and leave me here all lost and alone for the rest of the day."

Keith sighed and punched Lance playfully in the arm. "You can come with me to work, Lance, just stay out of my hair and be right on time for my breaks. And no surprise backroom blowjobs today, awesome though that was, ok?"

"If I ever get a job, you so better believe I'm having you come over to do that to me some day." Keith groaned as Lance cackled evilly and headed over to the tiny apartment Christmas tree, dragging over the small pile of presents that had gathered there beneath the bright green plasticky branches. More would be waiting at his parents' place tomorrow afternoon but this was a good little haul for now. These were from his aunt-who was away for Christmas-and from Keith, which Lance was hoping to open last. Lance had decided to blow a good bit of his monthly budget on getting some things for Keith that he was sure he didn't have stuffed away in his storage unit or in the few boxes still left laying around. "Well, it's a day early, but, uh, Merry Christmas!"

"Yeah, Merry Christmas," Keith sighed. He grinned like a maniac as he opened up the first one and found a hardcover copy of the prequel comic to The Sandman, Sandman: Overture. Lance chuckled as he saw how poorly wrapped his present from Keith was-at last, something the mulleted nerd wasn't good at-and gave a gleeful shout as Keith had gotten him some CDs that would make a fine alternative to the car's 80's station-CDs for several symphonic metal bands, including Nightwish's classic Oceanborn and Imaginarium and their latest album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Lance shoved another present into Keith's hands and let a wide grin take over his face as Keith's expression turned confused. Lance remembered finding those plastic 80's cartoon lion-robot action figures in the car that one night and decided to look up online whether there were any Keith had missed. In fact, there were several-and now he had a complete collection.

"Lance," Keith said, his voice a strange whisper. "You shouldn't have...I mean, those things were just toys from my parents when I was a kid, just stupid, sentimental things I kept when I'd given most of mine away years ago because I liked the look of cheesy old robots...and now you've gotten me more?"

"Yeah, thought you might want to start a collection or something, you seem the kind of guy who collects nerdy tie-in merchandise-hell, I do that. I hear there's even been a reboot of that cartoon, said to be really good, so I hear, I might check it out, it's next season's coming up and apparently its first one ended on a real evil cliffhanger." Lance gulped and looked away, feeling more awkward than he'd expected. Had he made a mis-step? "I, uh, wasn't really sure what to get you yet so I had to guess in a couple places and I thought this might be something important at least, seeing as you kept those toys in your car after all these years. It was ok to get you all that, right...?"

Keith leaned over and gave him another long, deep kiss, a low rumbling noise in his throat as he leaned against Lance, his bare chest warm against his body. Lance would never get tired of that feeling of being close, of being touched and wanted and needed. Keith sighed as he finished the kiss a few seconds later and let Lance go. "Lance, you big dork, you did fine. More than fine. I only have a few collections of things like books and stuff because, well, I was never sure these past few years if I'd stay in the same home long enough to allow myself to collect something, to have a life outside of survival and work and getting through school. Almost everything I've owned has been out of necessity or there just to get me through another awful day of living my fucked-up life. Yeah, the action-figures are a little silly but the meaning behind them, the fact that I have a life now where I can do that sort of thing and where someone wants to do stupid silly things for me, well, that says a lot. And its because of you. Thank you, again, I can never stop thanking and loving you for what you've done, Lance."

Lance nearly felt ready to cry himself but kept himself together. He was being stupid, oh so stupid, he knew, but he didn't care. "Well, wow, I didn't think of any of that when I bought those for you..." Lance sniffed and turned away. "I just thought you might like them for memory's sake or some shit."

Keith touched Lance's face and dragged his boyfriend towards him for another kiss. "I love them. And I'm glad you seem to like what I got you, Lance. Merry Christmas, Lance. And, um, I know I sound stupid, but I'm very much hoping for a Happy New Year. I could use it."

Lance closed his eyes and let the boyfriend he had never expected and yet never wanted to let go of give him more and more kisses, some sweet and solemn, others messy and demanding. Eventually, Lance pulled away, grinned awkwardly, and said, "Yeah, well, Keith, you big old nerd, you can be sure you're going to have a happy new year, damn it. You can count on it. The next semester's going to be awesome. I, uh, well, Merry Christmas and, um, god why is it so hard to say-"

"I know, Lance," Keith sighed, smiling. 'No need to tell me, you already told me before. You were drunk the first time but it didn't matter to me, it still counted."

"I know, I know, but I want to get really used to saying it, at all times. I love you. Nerd."

"And I love you, too, dork," Keith chuckled, his eyes full of warmth and mirth. He stuck out his tongue as Lance laughed and shoved him gently aside "Here, hand me that other gift, will you? And here's what else I was able to get you, Lance, hope you like it..."

Outside, a light spray of snow continued to blow on the wind and move winter forward across the town while in the apartment above the old garage, light and laughter accompanied the sound of unwrapping presents and the unwrapping of a relationship that had only truly begun to develop into something far more than either had ever expected or hoped for and would continue to surprise both of them for a long time to come.

*****

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, that's a wrap on this particular fic! Chapter 8 is done and so is this story, though I do have potential sequel fodder for this fic as mentioned before, so who knows when that'll come up! Thank you so much for enjoying this story and my writing, I hope to have many more Klance fics for you in the future. Hope the ending wasn't too ridiculous or whatever, I'm not that great with endings, though I try. Time for me to go watch Voltron again and write more fics. Thanks again to everyone who's enjoyed this, commented, given kudos, reblogged elsewhere and anything else, you've all been absolutely wonderful :)


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